Alessandro Mendini

The Fondation Cartier has presented his work in several exhibitions in both Paris and abroad. In 2002, the foundation invited him to a dialogue with artists Vincent Beaurin and Fabrice Domercq in the exhibition Fragilisme. A decade later, they commissioned him to do the scenography of Histoires de Voir. Several echoes of his collaborations remain in the foundation's collections, such as Bisazza, his monumental works in mosaic, and his famed Poltrona di Proust and his Petite Cathédrale. The retrospective Io Sono un Drago, organised in collaboration with the Atelier Mendini at the Milan Triennale in 2024, comprised over 400 works and consecrated his unique status in the world of design.

He was Editor-in-Chief of Casabella, Modo and Domus, and founded the Atelier Mendini in 1989 with his brother, Francesco. Together, they designed the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands, the “art stations” on the Naples metro in Italy, as well as several private and public buildings throughout Asia and Europe. He was an honorary member of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, and a recipient of the Compasso d'Oro on three occasions (1979, 1981 and 2014) and the European Prize for Architecture in Chicago in 2014.