Bombé Coffee Table Tray by Alessi

Description

Designed in 1945, this service was first produced in chrome-plated and silver-plated heavy brass, and later in stainless steel. “The Bombé service is very much a product of the postwar sociocultural climate, and as such it’s a specific phenomenon of the design and customs that are associated with the first age of Italian design, with walnut furniture, the curves of the Vespa, the Isetta bubble car, the first Arflex armchairs, and the typewriters designed by Marcello Nizzoli for Olivetti. Seen through modern eyes, it also suggests pop art and there are clear references to a “rounded” morphological history of the coffee maker, from Christopher Dresser onwards.” (Alessandro Mendini)

Material: bakelite,steel
Dimensions: 16.94″L x 13.19″W

Carlo Alessi

Carlo Alessi was born in Granerolo (Verbania) in 1916, studied technical design at the OMAR institute in Novara and, at an early age worked in the metal workshop set up by his father, Giovanni, in 1921. From the mid-thirties until the mid-forties, he designed many Alessi works including the “Ottagonale”, “Scalini”, “Cilindrica” and “Bombé’” series. In the fifties, he became managing director of the company bringing with him a new international dimension and began working with new external designers. He was president of Alessi S.p.A until 2009, when he passed away.