Alias was founded in 1979 in Grumello del Monte near Bergamo (Lombardy) — by Giandomenico Belotti, Enrico Baleri, Carlo Forcolini and Francesco Forcolini. The opening chapter was the legendary Spaghetti Chair by Giandomenico Belotti: a chair with seat and backrest made of stretched plastic cords, one of the first Alias products to enter the permanent collection of MoMA in New York. In 1998, Riccardo Blumer's Laleggera chair won the Compasso d'Oro — following the Design Preis Schweiz in 1997. The company produces entirely in Italy, sources its suppliers from within a 50 km radius of the production site and describes its manufacturing as carbon neutral. Alias is listed on the Architonic platform and on Archiproducts.

The range covers chairs, stools, armchairs, sofas, tables, desks, shelving and outdoor furniture — consistently guided by the design principle of lightness. Key designers and works include: Alberto Meda (Frame table system, Highframe chair, Biplane), Alfredo Häberli (Tec table, Plein Air, SEC shelving system, Time armchair — Alias's third Red Dot Award), Philippe Starck and Eugeni Quitllet (To'taime, Elle), Jasper Morrison (Tagliatelle chair), Mario Botta (Seconda, La Quinta, Latonda — 1980s), Riccardo Blumer (Laleggera, Ghisa, Dinamica), Paolo Rizzatto (Flexus), Michele De Lucchi (Norma, Layout, Dehors) and Simon Pengelly (Landscape office system). The portfolio spans residential, office, contract and outdoor settings.

For architects and interior designers, Alias is a reference point for contemporary, technologically lightweight and formally precise Made in Italy design — with an exceptionally consistent design history since 1979.