In this video produced by Dezeen for Triennale Milano and Fondation Cartier, Philippe Starck describes the "genius" of Alessandro Mendini following the opening of Io Sono Un Drago: The True Story of Alessandro Mendini, an exhibition celebrating the designer.
French designer Starck, who has contributed an immersive installation to coincide with the exhibition, emphasised the impact that Mendini has had on his own work, citing his sprawling approach to creativity.
"Mendini is something special for me," he said in an exclusive video interview with Dezeen. "His brain was an atomic bomb of fantasy, with no limits."
Starck's installation accompanies a retrospective exhibition celebrating Mendini at Milan design week, presented by cultural institutions Triennale Milano and Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain and curated by Italian architect Fulvio Irace. Titled Io Sono Un Drago (I am a dragon), the exhibition contains more than 600 pieces by Mendini across his 60-year career. ??Mendini passed away at the age of 87 in February 2019.
Mendini was a key figure in the radical design movement
The exhibition sets out to explore Mendini's influence on 20th-century design and architecture, particularly in his multidisciplinary approach to creativity.
"Alessandro Mendini was a key figure of the last century, not just for design but also for art and architecture because he was able to link all these disciplines and blur the lines between them," ...