“This is all you need to make a good everyday table setting”. I have always admired Jasper for the coherence and modesty that he applies to his role as a designer, well aware, for example, of the fact that, in traditional household typologies, design evolution has nearly always developed by means of short steps. By this I mean small modifications in shape or function which, over generations of designers (nearly always anonymous) working at different moments in the history of mankind, have led to the standard form/function as we know it today. Year after year, Jasper remains faithful to this type of approach, and he has recently given it a theoretical grounding in the exhibition “Super Normal” created together with his friend Naoto Fukasawa. Today Jasper is one of the most respected designers on the international scene. “PlateBowlCup” bone china tableware and “Glass Family” glasses take their place alongside the “KnifeForkSpoon” cutlery (2005), thus forming the first complete Alessi tableware collection “entry level” in our catalogues. It gives me great pleasure to use the term “entry level”, which I consider a kind of title of ‘merit’. It is true that the price of these household objects is highly accessible, but this has not compromised the quality of design. We feel that this design neatly expresses the contribution that “A di Alessi” has made to truly democratic design. Jasper has said: “I like the idea of a democratic wine glass which is slightly more formal than the others, to be used to give the table an easy aspect of a 'dinner' rather than just dinner”. I would like to add that his quest for anti-glamour “normality” paradoxically gives his designs an air of sophisticated simplicity, which is a good description of one of the ambitions of the “A di Alessi” brand.
