The coffee-pot, the compass, and Punchinello

Architect, designer and university lecturer, Dalisi (Potenza, 1931), who has been defined by Mendini as "the mind behind design in the South of Italy" has sent us, from his city, one of the longest-running project developments in the history of Alessi. During the nine years the project lasted (1979-1987), over 200 different prototypes in tin were made. They are now housed in the Alessi Museum and are much sought-after for design exhibitions throughout the world. The project was for a small series, which aimed to recall an old-fashioned type of coffee pot which had been the household model in Italy before the arrival of the Moca or Espresso versions in the 1950s. Research into the Napoletana, which made wide use of historical, anthropological and poetic sources, is described in R. Dalisi, La caffettiera e Pulcinella, Alessi, 1987.

The research on the "caffettiera napoletana" (1979-1987: it won the 12th "compasso d'oro", the first and most authoritative European Prize for designers) was the longest in our history: it produced during the years a book and more than two hundred  prototypes in tin, each one working.

Neapolitan coffee maker in steel mirror polished and Canaletto walnut handle.