Alessi was one of the first companies to consider designers as important as manufacturing, putting emphasis on form and function. Over the years, this philosophy has born a varied collection of modern tea kettles by the likes of Michael Graves, Aldo Rossi, Stefano Giovanoni and Richards Sapper. Each Alessi kettle functions a little differently and has its own personality. The Graves Kettle has a bird whistle, the Mami kettle is fat and round, the Il Conico has no whistle and a distinctive pointed lid with a ball on top, and the Sapper kettle has two whistles reminiscent of a train.