Alessandro Mendini (born 16 August 1931 in Milan) is an Italian designer and architect. He played an important part in the development of Italian design. He also worked, aside from his artistic career, for Casabella, Modo and Domus magazines. He was a professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, where Mario Gagliardi was among his students. He also teaches at the University of Milan.

Mendini changed the landscape of modern design through his quintessential works of postmodernism, such as the Proust Armchair and the Groninger Museum. Just as works of the Renaissance period expressed human values and sensibilities, Mendini has contributed to bringing into the heart of design those “values” and “sensibilities” that have been eclipsed by commercialism and functionalism. He collaborates with leading international brands including Cartier, Hermes, and Swarovski. Currently he runs his own practice in Milan, the Atelier Mendini, together with his brother Francesco Mendini.In the seventies he was one of the main personalities of the Radical design movement. In 1979 he joined the Studio Alchimia as a partner and here he worked with Ettore Sottsass and Michele De Lucchi. In 1982 he co-founded Domus Academy, the first postgraduate design school.

As architect, he designed several buildings; for example the Alessi residence in Omegna, Italy; the theater complex "Teatrino della Bicchieraia" in the Tuscan city of Arezzo; the Forum Museum of Omegna, a memorial tower in Hiroshima, Japan; the Groninger Museum in The Netherlands and the Arosa Casino in Switzerland. His work in product design was influential in the sense that it pushed the boundaries of what products could be. He has been awarded several international prizes, including the Compasso d´oro in 1979 and in 1981. He holds an honorary title from the Architectural League of New York as well as the title of "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" from the French Republic.