IV.閱讀測驗:
      Ever fashionable, the Alessi brand has managed to transtorm from a metal utensil and
dish designer to fully explore all kitchen and houschold options, incorporating the work of
leading designers from Philippc Stark to Michael Graves and Aldo Rossi. Throughout its
histery. Alessi has chosen dircction based on the guidance of its designers and the
development of the product fiself. The brand vision appears to be to rovel in dosign in all
areas of life, to enjoy ard celebrate the simplicity of cveryday objects, and to take risks
whether there exists a need for risk or not. Or put simply: No man should be forced to dine
from a boring plate
      But how did Alessi acquire such a frivolously jubilant rcputation?
The year was 1921, the setting, a small town in the foothills of the Italian Alps, the founder
Giovanni Alessi for whom the company is named was a metal expert working with a lathc to
create workmanlike metal utensils and dishcs. The rcsult was a family-run brand that would
continually adapt to set style in the kitchen and home using a variety of mediums from silver,
bronze and stainless steel to porcelain, ceramic, and eventually, plastic.
      Although Giovanni was an able craftsman, it wasn't until his eldest son Carlo stepped up
to the plate in the thirties and forties that the brand began to be associated with a style of
design unique to the Alessi name. Carlo's playfully flamboyant Bombe coffee and tea set is
celebrated as creating a design sensibility in Italy that can still be seen as an influence in many
of the products today. It was these early designs that encouraged ordinary Italians to view
their kitchen as a living arthouse, where the salt and pepper shaker were more than just the
functional sum of their parts.
      Carlo's eldest son Alberto continued along the path set by la famiglia and propelled the
company into the international world of design. In the early nineties, on the advice of his
designers, Alberto allowed the use of plastic to address a trend of "customers yearning for
joyful, playful design," as he put it. This change of direction for the brand, which prior to the
advent of plastic, was becoming an elitist symbol of yuppie aifuence, helped Alessi to break
away from the harsh lines of the eighties and adjust to the more organic lineties.
      And it is this advice from his designers that seems to inform Alberto's approach to
managing the brand's direction. Rather than tracking the whims and desires of the market base,
Alessi follows the suggestion of its designers in deciding where its next steps will be. This
approach is a boon to designers who may wish to design frce from the confines of the
audience's voice. In this mannet, the evelution of Alessi's is such that an elegant cup and
saucer can rcside next to a flamboyantly tentacled octopus whisk.
      But for those acsthetes who worry that the brand is too acccssible to the masses, Alessi
has created a dual branding systen to distinguish between its popular price point products and
the more exclusive designs. There is the Alessi product, which is mass produced and easily
accessed through department stores, and then a system of marks for designers dedicated to
experimenting and manufactured in limited editions. Thesc names include Officina Alessi,
product designed salely in metal, Alessi Twergi, using only wood, and Alessi Tendentse,
which uses porcelain and crystal glass.
      Content for ts produets to be confined to the kitchen, the Alcssi name in turn aspires to
attain recognition within the design community. And the rest of the world obviously concurs
as Alessi design can be found in museums throughout the world
【題組】39. What is most likely the author's comment on Alessi products?
(A) A symbol of household innovation
(B) Transforming industry into art
(C) A brand with long tradition
(D) Putting fun into function