Alessi — Neko AL24003 | Yellow polyurethane wristwatch

There is something radically playful about the Neko, something that challenges the very idea of the wristwatch as an object of social representation. The yellow polyurethane case - a bright, almost pop yellow, impossible to ignore - embraces the wrist with a tactile lightness that belongs more to the world of the body than to that of mechanics. The diameter of 3.4 centimetres, the thickness of just 8 millimetres: a minimal physical presence, a maximum visual impact. The Neko was born from one of the most unexpected and fascinating collaborations in Alessi's recent history: with SANAA, the studio founded by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryūe Nishizawa, winners of the 2010 Pritzker Prize. Designed for Alessi and presented in May of that same year, the piece translates the minimalist and almost dematerialised poetics that made the two architects famous - authors, among other things, of the Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne and the New Museum in New York - into the everyday format of a wristwatch. Transferring that formal grammar to such a domestic object is both a simple and radical gesture. We chose it for Stilmobili because it tells a design story that goes beyond function. The Neko is a piece for those who know SANAA, but also for anyone who simply loves the idea that a colour can be a statement of intent. It is ideal as a gift for a design collector, as an object to keep on display even when it is not worn on the wrist, and as a reminder that architecture can inhabit even the narrowest centimetres of our everyday lives. Project notes: end of series, now a collector's piece. Yellow polyurethane case, Ø 3.4 cm, thickness 0.8 cm. Net weight 240 g with packaging. Designer: SANAA. Year: 2010.