ABET LAMINATI AND ALESSANDRO MENDINI

April 2024 saw the opening at the Triennale of “Io sono un drago. La vera storia di Alessandro Mendini” an extensive retrospective on the work of Mendini, the architect, designer, artist and theorist who marked the revolutions in thought and costume of the old century and the new millennium.
The exhibition, on display until 13th October 2024, is produced by Triennale Milano and Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain in collaboration with Abet Laminati and Archivio Alessandro Mendini, curated by Fulvio Irace, with installation design by Pierre Charpin.

Since its inception, Bra-based Abet Laminati has always been able to engage with the world of design and architecture, supporting artistic movements and stylistic revolutions that have strongly influenced the history of Italian design. An example of which was at the end of the 1970s with the Alchimia movement, of which Alessandro Mendini was a valued collaborator.
From that moment, the synergy between Abet Laminati and the Atelier Mendini has never stopped, giving rise to furnishings, collections and major architectural projects in which laminate has been able to assume a primary role and capable of expressing what was to be “a free and continuous movement of thought”. (Alchimia Manifesto, Alessandro Mendini, 1984).
“ Abet Laminati’s long activity in the field of surface decoration represents a particular and very important phenomenon in the history of Italian design. The reasons for this particularity are various, and together they have contributed to an excellent catalogue. […]
The decoration of surfaces is a very ancient act that perhaps precedes architecture. It is a way of writing, of involving objects in the literariness of the human mind and psyche. It is a basic attitude in the deepening of the relationship between men and environments.[…]
ABET plays a leading role in the contemporary world in this social, cultural and artistic responsibility. Not least because the results of its latest technical achievements are directed towards an agility of intervention in matter, which makes it almost available to the decorative desire of everyone. And it is well known that combining the high print run with the customisation of the unique piece is one of the great goals of design.”

Alessandro Mendini (2003)

With the collaboration of the Alessandro Mendini Archive, Abet Laminati has reconstructed decorative panels in digital print that recreate two historical installations: Interno di un Interno and Le mie prigioni. Also on display are 21 models of architecture designed by Atelier Mendini – including nine from Abet’s private collection -, along with a large panel reproducing studies of decorations for the façades of buildings in the Posco Quarter in Seoul.