Alessi | MW08 Fatman, Design Folding Stand, Decorated Steel

Fatman

Alessi

Designer: Marcel Wanders

Folding Cake Stand Fatman

Fatman was designed by Marcel Wanders who has focused his attention on the object’s decoration, creating a kind of colourful suit in which to dress the cake stand. This aspect makes the object versatile: closed, it is a table sculpture; open it becomes a multi-tier cake stand for table service. In this sense it is not just a folding object, because when you close it up it doesn’t simply stop being a container, it transforms into a beautiful object to be admired. The colourful decoration designed by Wanders, combined with the round shape, tends to emphasise the formal perception of the object. Fatman, as the name suggests, presents the features of a man with a robust body, dressed in an outfit reminiscent of a clown.

The Designer

Marcel Wanders

Marcel Wanders grew up in Boxtel, the Netherlands, and graduated from the School of the Arts Arnhem in 1988. Marcel Wanders’ fame started with his iconic Knotted Chair, which he produced for Droog Design in 1996. He is now ubiquitous, designing for the biggest European contemporary design manufacturers. Marcel was the editor of the International Design Yearbook 2005. In the same year, together with Chef Peter Lute, he established the extraordinary LUTE SUITES hospitality-concept, the first “all over city suites” hotel in the world. Marcel is the first and among the most important designers of Droog design. He was a juror for various prizes and has taught at various design academies in the Netherlands and abroad. Various designs of Marcel Wanders have been selected for the most important design collections and exhibitions in the world and various Droog Design exhibitions.

The company

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.

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 ensure 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.