Alessi

HUH? A question you will ask yourself one hundred times while you are in Alessi. This is the shop for the person who has everything, because I guarantee no you don’t. You won’t even realize how to figure out half of the little random items unless the extremely friendly store manager helps you out. (Thinking little acrobatic silver man, who dips and at the same time picks up a toothpick)…You can think of it as the place that has the items you didn’t even know you needed, but you would be wrong. Really, you don’t NEED anything in this store. (Thinking little silver sharp item that is exclusively for the first cut in an orange peel)…But you will sort of want at least something. I did… and now i have my little cutie blobby man who will hold my dental floss and remind me of my time in London.

Italian design. Lovely. Elegant. Functional. Alessi products are quintessentially Italian with a healthy dose of fun added to the mix. I love the vibrant colours, ingenuity, clever practicality and often anthropomorphic characteristics that are inherent to Alessi designs.
I swung by the Alessi shop on Brook Street this morning to take a gander at their new Spring/​Summer 2010 collection and was pleased with the useful eye candy stuff on display (and soon to be on sale). There’s a clock with a wipeboard dial for up to the minute and/​or playful personalized messaging. There’s a pepper container shaped like a … pepper (gasp!). There are plenty of good looking items for your kitchen, bath etc.
Alessi offers brilliant gift ideas (not cheap but great value for money) as well as all sorts of «ooh, I could really use one of those» type thingies.
The Brook Street shop is a pleasant place for browsing.

I got first on it… yeaahhhhh. Located near but off the main Oxford street drag, this Alessi is the perfect place to shop for a gift for those relatives who are both a) unaware of the Alessi brand b) might appreciate a little touch of whimsy in their lives. Alessi is well-​nigh ubiquitous on the continent, so if you are heading in that direction, you may want to wait.