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Product design firm Alessi seems to be going from strength to strength. Now with the third generation of the family at the helm, in the hands of Alberto, the founder’s eldest grandson, it is fresh from presenting the Alessi bar and café at designjunction for the London Design Week. Alberto Alessi talks to FX.

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'You can't choose your family,' so they say. It's a phrase often heard from individuals trying to excuse unfortunate personality traits and characteristics. Not the Alessis though, who have duty to family values in their blood and, through three generations, have taken the product design firm forward - and accepted it as given that the Alessi name will endure as a family firm.

Giovanni Alessi founded the Italian design company Alessi in 1921. Three generations on, the company is still family-run, with Giovanni Alessi's eldest grandson, Alberto, president of the company, succeeding his father Carlo in 2009 when he died. 'I officially started working for the company the day after my law graduation, in 1970,' says Alberto, recalling his father sending him on business to Germany that same day.

Designer Mario Trimarchi's sketch for the Alessi Ossidiana (2014)

'Working to maintain a family business is a very common Italian tradition. It's normal for us to be recruited into the family company.' Now 68, he has never worked anywhere else, and I wonder how he felt about being expected to work in (and eventually take on) the family business. Did he feel pressurised, resentful? 'Let me put it like this,' he says. 'I knew from the beginning it was my destiny to work for the company because I am the first of my generation and I knew I had this responsibility.

Whether I liked it or not is another story!' With no formal design training, Alessi says he 'learned while doing' and introduced his own business dynamic, possibly with a practical logic coming from his law training. With both his father and grandfather's designs already well established, Alessi was keen to push the business towards in new directions that were not necessarily design-led.

Riccardo Dalisi sketch. He designed the Neapolitan expresso machine for Alessi (1987)

'Design...was an already established part of the business with my grandfather and father being designers,' he says. Alessi has worked to develop the company's profile by adopting new marketing and communication strategies, as well as developing new products in collaborations with architects and designers from all over the world, something that had been introduced into the company by his uncle, Ettore, in the Fifties.

Three design books (including one on the history of Alessi) and an Alessi Museum later, Alessi's other personal achievements include honorary doctorates (from Birmingham City University, Lincoln University and University of Industrial Arts in Helsinki to name a few) and a senior fellowship at the RCA. Whether initially he wanted to work for the company or not, Alessi has made his mark by impacting the business in a very positive and unique way.

Alessi was approached by Designjunction organisers to install a bar at this year's event, which was held in the Old Sorting Office venue as part of the London Design Festival, and it was here we met to chat. With Alessi working with renowned Italian designer Mario Trimarchi, the design features the products behind Alessi's Super & Popular collection - a selection of Alessi's most famous products from the past 60 years. Included were a series of Alessi-designed coffee pots, arranged as a timeline to detail some of the company's design history. Bringing it bang up to date was Ossidiana, part of the Alessi 2014 range and designed by Trimarchi.

Richard Sapper's sketch for his espresso coffee maker, produced by Alessi in 1979

'Mario! Mario! I'm asked, "When did we meet for the first time?"' Alessi calls over to Trimarchi in a booming voice that cuts through the din of exhibitors setting up for the preview evening. Walking over to us, Trimarchi smiles and says: 'It was a long time ago and we were both very young. But I waited 26 years before submitting my design project to him!'

Watching them both laughing and conversing in a mix of Italian and English, it's obvious they are old friends. Alessi is warm and instantly likable, qualities that surely have aided his business success. Looking around the cafe, he says: 'This is the first time I have seen the concept, and yes, I think it works well. We have designed and produced the cafe for our customers, and the idea was conceived in order to help sell our products.'

With the Super & Popular collection of Alessi signature products, I'm intrigued to know how things will shape up for the firm's future. What's next? Alessi laughs and sits back: 'I've never been able to understand trends. It's only after I look back to the decade that has already passed that I can see something there.' If there is someone else in the firm that looks at trends for Alessi to base its future strategy on, he's not letting on.

Or maybe Alberto's engaging ambivalence on the subject is a secret to his success? Whatever is the case, the Alessi succession is assured, though under wraps, with two nephews already working with him in the firm, and a third possible working as a designer.