Animate Your Christmas With 2009 Alessi Figurines

This is the third year that designer Massimo Giacon has designed sweet little magical Christmas porcelain figurines for Alessi. With some additions to the line and some changes (e.g. the nativity scene went from white to red and has individuals characters you can add), they are still one of the cutest ways to add some whimsy to your holiday.

All the figures are made of white porcelain and subsequently decorated by hand, occasionally with the help of decalcomania. Their sizes match those in the previous collection, so if you already own some, these will fit right in!



Here's the new Alessi figurines for 2009, plus a candy dish and 2 new plates:

New Nativity:

3 Wise Men, Salvatore, la signora Acqua and 2 sheep:

The Hugging Tree:

The Christmas Hug Plates:


The candy dish/pastry plate:


The Alessi Christmas collection from 2008:





And the Alessi original Christmas Collection from 2007:





Buy any or all of them here at Unica Home (as long as they are still available!)

The Loss of A Legend:Ettore Sottsass, Designer, Dead at 90

Above: Ettore Sottsass at the retrospective held in his honor at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2006.

By ROBIN J. POGREBIN
January 1, 2008, New York Times Obituary

Ettore Sottsass, an éminence grise of postmodern design who helped found the influential Memphis Group and was responsible for the familiar bright red plastic Olivetti typewriter, died Monday at his home in Milan. He was 90.

His death was confirmed by Francesco Rutelli, the Italian culture and tourism minister.

Although trained and active as an architect, Mr. Sottsass secured a permanent place in pop culture with his designs of everyday items, including office cabinets, table lamps, ice buckets and silverware.

“He was truly a giant of design,” said Paola Antonelli, the senior curator in the Museum of Modern Art’s department of architecture and design. “He had a capacity to really feel the times that he was living in and to change with them.”....
Read the complete new York Times Obituary here.

A few of the items Ettore Sottsass introduced to our world:





Above: one of Ettore's more familiar designs for Alessi, 1987

You can see more of his designs online at the Virtual Design Museum.