who would’ve guessed that alessandro mendini — a key figure in revolutionizing italy’s design in the 80’s — doesn’t know how to cook. ‘my skills as a craftsman are very limited, including those in the kitchen. for example, deftly cracking an egg into two halves reduces me to anorexic humiliation. inevitably my thumbs end up immersed in the yolk, with all the predictable consequences,’ said mendini after a failed attempt at cooking a fried egg.

alessandro mendini tegamino alessi maison et objet 2018 designboom
tegamino by alessandro mendini for alessi was presented in paris at maison et objet 
image by carlo lavatori

 

 

and maybe that’s why mendini, with consultation from alex mocika and gastronomist alberto gozzi, designed ‘tegamino’ (fried in italian) for alessi. made entirely out of stainless steel, the little pan is perfect for making food in the kitchen and serving it at the table. designed to create the perfect single-portion for an egg, tegamino features high-performance and a silhouette sketched out by its curvy handles. 

alessandro mendini tegamino alessi maison et objet 2018 designboom
image by walter zerla

 

 

‘together with alberto gozzi, the famous chef of the quirinale and alessi’s gourmet consultant, we slowly but thoroughly studied the history of cooking eggs from the middle ages to the renaissance to the 1700s, from art nouveau to fascism to the present day. combinations of metals, their thicknesses; the lids, recipes and dimensions; the distances from the flame and cooking times,’ commented alessandro mendini on how he had to study deeply the art of frying an egg. 

 

let’s hope this new design helps those who don’t even know how to cook an egg!

alessandro mendini tegamino alessi maison et objet 2018 designboom
image by walter zerla

alessandro mendini tegamino alessi maison et objet 2018 designboom
image by walter zerla

alessandro mendini tegamino alessi maison et objet 2018 designboom
image by carlo lavatori

alessandro mendini tegamino alessi maison et objet 2018 designboom
image by walter zerla

alessandro mendini tegamino alessi maison et objet 2018 designboom

image by alessi

alessandro mendini tegamino alessi maison et objet 2018 designboom
image by alessi