Everyday Elegance - Itsumo

Itsumo, from the Japanese for "every day and forever", is the cutlery set designed by Naoto Fukasawa. The creator's love for the beauty of simple things, done well, universal and evolutionary within everyday life, translates into a cutlery series with a minimalist design and elegantly curved shapes. A simple set, for everyday use, to make every meal just a little more special.

About Alessi

“A true design work must move people, convey emotions, bring back memories, surprise, and go against common thinking.” - Alberto Alessi

Founded in 1921 as a “Workshop for the processing of brass and nickel silver sheet metal, with foundry”, Alessi has always stood out for the high quality of its products. In almost a century of history, the company has gradually evolved to become one of the leading “Factories of Italian design”, capable of applying its expertise and excellence in design management to many different product types. Open to change and international development, Alessi at the same time has a strong bond with the traditions and cultural background of its area and continues to be synonymous with handcrafted objects produced with the help of machines.

Alessi’s mission is now one of translating its quest for the most advanced cultural, aesthetic, design and functional quality into mass production. Designer products are the result of the constant reconciliation of art and industry, of the “Immensity of Creative Potential” and the needs of the market. The company is committed to a design approach in which the most advanced expression of international creativity is always balanced against the desires of the general public. Alessi has been described as a “Dream Factory”, which uses its products to make people’s dreams come true, providing them with the Art and Poetry that they seek.

Alessi: The Design Factory

A journey inside and outside Alessi, to discover a Factory of Italian Design

Alessigraphy: the geography of Alessi production

SINCE THE COMPANY'S foundation in 1921 the majority of Alessi products have been manufactured through the cold working of metals, a tradition that is kept alive today by the skilled workers at the Crusinallo plant in Omegna.

Over time, Alessi also began to work with many other materials, such as porcelain, glass, wood, and plastic... A specific production method was developed for each one. Even when production takes place outside the Crusinallo plant, Alessi’s guidelines guarantee the company’s original production quality standards, continuing to reconcile industrial technological complexity with an artisanal eye for detail.

The objects produced from the different materials are manufactured in various production plants across the world. They remain original Alessi objects in that they are conceived with the same design excellence and produced with the same attention to quality that sets the company’s products apart.

The Designer: Naoto Fukasawa

Naoto Fukasawa was born in Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, in 1956. He graduated from Tama Art University's product design department in art and 3D design in 1980. Until 1988, Fukasawa worked as a designer at Seiko-Epson corp. In 1989, he left Japan for the United States. In San Francisco he joined a small office - ‘ID two’, the predecessor to ‘IDEO’ and after eight years Fukasawa returned home. In 1996, he helped set up ‘IDEO’ in Japan - a team of eight designers working mainly for the Japanese market. He stayed with it until december 2002. Naoto Fukasawa he went independent and in January 2003 he established ‘Naoto Fukasawa design in Tokyo. Fukasawa joined the advisory board of the Japanese company ‘MUJI’. In December 2003 he set up a new product brand ’±0’. ‘plusminuszero’ designs and produces domestic objects, from umbrellas to electronics. Naoto Fukasawa is a lecturer in the product design department Musashino art university and Tama art university in Tokyo. Naoto Fukasawa's designs have won more than 50 design awards in Europe and America. Other than japanese projects, there is a range of projects with Italian, German and other European companies.