Italian design firm Alessi has evolved from a local housewares factory into an international organization, collaborating with well-known designers including Michael Graves, Aldo Rossi, and Philippe Starck. 

The McKinsey Quarterly has interviewed the CEO of Alessi design,  Alberto Alessi,  the third generation to lead his family’s iconic design firm. Founded and still based in Crusinallo, about an hour north of Milan, Italy, the firm remains privately owned.  Cultivating innovation: An interview with the CEO of a leading Italian design firm.

After the interview in February 2009, The McKinsey Quarterly presents in March 2009, a multimedia article where  it explores how design firm Alessi manages innovation—from working with collaborators, to how design constraints help shape products, to assessing new innovations’ potential. Managing innovation: Pages from Alessi’s handbook.