Trained as an architect with a passion for design, Alessandro Mendini (1931-2019) will be remembered as an advocate for the function of pleasure in design. Mendini and other Italian architects and designers championed a vibrant postmodernism throughout the second half of the 20th century, but Mendini's work was uniquely pervasive in the modern design world. 

Medini's Anna corkscrew (above) was one of the most popular items in the Alessi lineup when it was designed in 1994. Of the design, Fast Company's Suzanne Labarre wrote that "as you stab the screw into a cork and twist, Anna’s arms rise up over her head in a silent hallelujah to the wine-fueled revelry that awaits. Today you can buy all manner of wine openers: electric ones, air pressure pumps, one-handed varieties. But how many corkscrews can make you laugh out loud?" 

Medini's name was said in the same sentences as those including Michael Graves  and Ettore Sottsass among aesthetes in the 80s and 90s, as they were lauded advocates for the installation of humor and joy in design. While the consumer market is full of design products which prioritize convenience, cost or efficiency, Mendini's work was unapologetically celebratory of texture, shape and heft. Though we live in an era of strict ordinances and criteria, there is no mistaking the value of whimsy that pervaded the life and work of the late Alessandro Medini.