"When you pay attention to the way
people use things and how they live, it becomes obvious that things must always change to remain useful and interesting."

—Inna Alesina


When given a glimpse of the diversity of Alesina Design's collection of products, it's evident why founder Inna Alesina has become an internationally renowned industrial designer. Her creations are so unique they resist categorization—an
accomplishment every inspired mind strives to achieve. Her portfolio is even more astounding when you discover that most of her products are fashioned from garbage.

Originally from Kharkov, Ukraine, Alesina settled in the Charm City area to raise her family. From a studio in Owings Mills she creates consumer products for the home that have earned recognition in The New York Times, I.D. magazine, and Metropolis magazine and have garnered awards from Seattle to Milan. The key to her success: Alesina sees potential where others see rubbish. Disposable, everyday objects inspire her artistry—that and the good feeling she gets when she "takes something out of the trash," salvaging it from a landfill and turning it into something entirely different and beautiful.

Alesina uses found and discarded components to fashion her products, and she strives to use as little pre-consumer material as possible in her work. What sets Alesina's green enterprise apart from many other earth-friendly concepts is sheer ingenuity and attractiveness. Her award-winning "Good Egg" stool transforms 100 nested egg crates into a piece of furniture that can serve as an ottoman or the base of a coffee table. Her "String It" light finds a solution for those unwanted compact discs: Users assemble the fixture from old CDs. The striking lines of her "1,000 & 1 Straw Lamp" become even more incredible when you realize that the lamp is composed of disposable plastic drinking straws. Your eye is drawn to the composite effect of the product, not the original utility of the individual materials.

Alesina's products evoke an array of emotions, from the comforting nostalgia associated with home to the excitement of discovering a fresh perspective. Beyond mere beauty, though, is a much deeper commitment to sustainability. Finding that idyllic balance between form and function requires diligence. "If it looks the way I want but doesn't function elegantly, then the idea gets revised," Alesina says.

As an instructor at Towson University, Alesina emphasizes to her students the almost monastic commitment to modification one must have to design well, explaining that "it's amazing how much time you can spend on the smallest detail … brainstorming and constant revision are key." 

That lesson extends beyond the classroom into the design world itself. Upon viewing her "Nesting Menorah" constructed from unrecycled metal, her former mentor was pleased to see that she had "stopped playing with trash." Even in the face of such good-humored jabs, Alesina's determination to "raise awareness about alternatives to waste" remains unvanquished. "Education about alternative, environmentally friendly design is enormously important in today's world," Alesina says.

The biggest challenge may be in educating the marketplace about the economic benefits of environmentally focused design. "People seem to get really furious about the destruction that goes on [in our environment], but when it comes to production and demand it's difficult to convince manufacturers, retailers, and people in general that paying more for something that's earth-friendly but constructed from recycled/reused material is worth the added expense." 

She draws attention to these needs by injecting her work with a sense of humor, and she enjoys creating "small objects that make people laugh." In 2002, Alesina developed a drinking glass, "Want/Need," divided into two parts. A small hole divides the two sections, and when filled to the rim, the user must plug the hole to keep the liquid from leaking. The product description explains that "one could put a stop to waste (in a global sense) with one's own hands."

The most adaptive of Alesina's innovations is her aptly named "Metamorphosis," which earned high marks at this year's Designboom in Cologne, Germany. The system, created with functional apparel designer Lauretta Welch, replaces traditional kitchen cabinetry with light nylon mesh stretched over tubular aluminum frames. The material's skin-like appearance and elasticity create an almost maternal aesthetic. Multifunctional pockets can be reconfigured to any kitchen and can evolve over time to fit the needs of the user. "When you pay attention to the way people use things and how they live, it becomes obvious that things must always change to remain useful and interesting," Alesina observes. 

Seeing the world as the ever-altering landscape it is, Alesina's global outlook and interest in environmental preservation produce works of simple beauty that promise to stand the test of time. "I'm not attached to any particular aesthetic," she says. "Good design is about problem solving."