This year marks the 20th anniversary of the “Anna
G.” corkscrew. To celebrate this lucky object, one of
the most iconic in our catalogue in recent decades, we
asked Mendini to design two special versions for limited
production in 2014. “Few people are aware that the moniker of the corkscrew
“Anna G.” comes from the name of a real person, Anna Gili,
a designer from Umbria, the one who designs animals.
It was Alberto Alessi’s idea to propose this name, finding
similarities between the image of the corkscrew and that
of the real-life Anna: the hair style and long neck, the gaze,
the dance-like movements. At the beginning of this project,
I set as my point of reference the mannequins by Oscar
Schlemmer, rooted in their dynamic
theatre. And then I remembered, as a
child, when my grandmother would open
a bottle of wine at the table, it always
seemed like a good performance, a
kind of ritual ballet: the turning
of the head, the arms moving up
and down, the sound of the cork
popping from the bottle. That’s when
I decided on an anthropomorphic
object. I made a drawing of a
ballerina, a female figure. It was
evident, though, that I had subliminally
drawn a portrait of Anna; she had been the
inspiration. I had created an actual, bonafide
portrait, a “design portrait.” Now, as this
object enters its twentieth year, it must be
said that the name “Anna G.” truly did bring
it luck. It was later presented officially at the
Groninger Museum—which is also celebrating
its twentieth anniversary— and since then, this
corkscrew has enjoyed widespread exposure,
becoming a symbiotic household icon. And
now, to mark the event, I came up with a
special edition. I’ve dressed “Anna G.” in a
tribal dance mask, perhaps suited to the
forests and legends of Umbria, perhaps suited
to the theatrical exploits of the Bauhaus. A new,
specially-designed performance for the occasion.”- Alessandro Mendini