When we think of nineteenth-century design, the collective imagination immediately turns to interiors with a heavy baroque style or to cups embellished with flowers and golden edges. But there is also more, proof of this is Christopher Dresser, a designer originally from Glasgow and active during the Victorian era. Today he still stands out among the first and main interpreters of design in the modern sense, anticipating – and preparing in a certain sense – the subsequent developments of the 20th century.
Among the designers of his generation he is probably the only one who can boast pieces still in production today and, above all, still associated with contemporary objects. The simplicity and rigor of its tea service has nothing to envy of its current counterparts. It could easily be mistaken for the latest addition to the Alessi catalog rather than the replica of a historic design, now “old” by a hundred years.
Dresser was an expert in metalworking techniques. He was also one of the very first European designers to visit Japan. The simplicity of Japanese design oriented him towards a minimalist taste and pushed him to search for a combination of aesthetics and functionality. Dresser thus abolished any superficial ornamentation, leaving the most essential characteristics of the object – such as the joints or the material itself – to define its aesthetic qualities.
A simple lesson yet of fundamental importance for all modern and contemporary design, still strongly based on these same concepts. Dresser’s table service was thus able to reach the present day, proving itself to be an object that is still suitable and perfectly usable today. And few would be able to guess his true age.
Alessi has put Dresser’s objects back into production since 1991 and continues to offer silver replicas, produced strictly by hand and in limited editions.
