Alessi — ES20 1 | Ettore Sottsass beechwood nutcracker

There is something deliberately playful yet rigorous about Alessi's ES20 1: a beechwood nutcracker presented in a chromatic dialogue of yellow and green, colors that evoke the warm season, farmers' markets, and the table set outdoors. The form is compact, almost sculptural - six centimeters at the base and eleven in height - and the wood offers to the touch that organic warmth no metal could ever match. A tool designed to be used, certainly, but also to be admired. The ES20 1 bears the signature of Ettore Sottsass, one of the leading figures in 20th-century Italian design. Founder of the Memphis movement and theorist of the object as a cultural language even before it is functional, Sottsass spanned decades of design history while always carrying with him a radical vision: objects must speak, they must surprise, they must have a soul. Even a simple nutcracker. The chosen color palette - that sunny yellow and leafy green - is never accidental in Sottsass's work: it is an aesthetic statement, a stance in the world. At Stilmobili, we chose the ES20 1 because it perfectly embodies what we consider the true essence of a quality tableware object: not an accessory hidden in a drawer, but a small protagonist of the domestic space. It is the ideal gift for those who love design with irony and awareness, for those who set the table as one sets a stage. Functional for the autumn fruit season, but designed - in its springtime colors - to remain on display all year round. Project notes: Beechwood, yellow and green finishes. Dimensions: 6 × 6 × 11 cm. Weight: 180 g. Designer: Ettore Sottsass. Alessi Collection, spring/summer lineup.