ALESSI creates items to be cherished both for what they do and for what they are. There is a significant devotion to beauty, expressed in the creation of objects for everyday lifestyle. There are objects we like to create an emotional bond with, to have them as our long-term companions. Their major desired characteristic is effectiveness and how pleasurable they are to use, as designed to generate affection in the user. The details that connect the joy of use is in the objects that relate to real people. They have an artificial flesh, alive, with their own behaviors, shaping our everyday life. These objects don’t just function, but carry inner values and the values we create in them through the many ways of using them. The environment is also affected, giving meaning to the space.

The SQUISITO garbage can set, emphasizes the notion of family. A family and set is modeled after Mendini’s Anna G corkscrew sets. The SQUISITO family is distributed around the kitchen, the office, the bathroom, and the recycling area. Each SQUISITO member has their own identity characteristics of interactivity, mainly providing light and color indication of their emotions and language. A shift for design was to aim for products providing affordances and feedback that enable ordinary users to understand the objects their own way and to socially engage with them. The kitchen SQUISITO starts off short and lively, with a mouth open for more food. Similar to caring for a pet, this garbage can takes in garbage like food, filling it up to grow taller and taller until its full. De-saturating its color with its mouth no longer open, it signals for you to take out the trash. The recycling and bathroom SQUISITO inclines different connotations for its use context. Brightening up the recycle SQUISITO indicates the positive qualities of paper recycling. The bathroom SQUISITO reminds you of hygienic concerns. Overall behaving in similar fashions, the SQUISITO family considers mixing technology with everyday objects – hiding them for function and ease of use.