When Alpi decided to revive the colourful speckled wood veneer Mendini had originally designed for the company in 1991, the company invited the Italian architect, designer and former editor of Domus to design a contemporary counterpart.
The original Alpi Pointillisme COL, a pattern of orange, burgundy, cream, grey and blue blotches had been based on the sun. So when Mendini came to reimagine the pattern for 2018, it was natural that he turned to the moon – resulting in the new black-and-white Alpi Pointillisme B/N veneer.
Mendini designed three pieces of furniture to show off the products, using curving protrusions and cut outs in reference to the solar and lunar theme of the two-part collection. The one-off pieces, collectively named Tre Primitivi, are currently on show in Alpi's Milan showroom.
"I designed two versions of the Alpi wood product, one Solar and the other Lunar," says Mendini of the veneer collection.
"The formula for this idea was suggested to me by Vittorio Alpi, whose literary exploration of thr writings by Italo Calvino challenged me to imagine a lunar spectrum in addition to my aurora lights," he continues.
"The lunar spectrum is more ancient, for it existed before the sun was formed. It contains a delicate balance of light and shadow, day and night, energy and darkness."
The three furniture pieces are named Qfwfq, Ayl and Luna & Sole after characters the story Without Colour, written by Italian writer Calvino.
Qfwfq and Ayl are made soley in Mendini's black and white, and coloured veneer respectively, while Luna & Sole is constructed from a combination of both.
