Alessi was founded in 1921 by Giovanni Alessi in the Strona valley at the foot of the Italian Alps. It started as a small manufacturer of metal and wooden kitchen ware. It has always and continues to be directed by members of the Alessi family. In 1955, under the direction of Carlo and Alberto Alessi the company began to collaborate with external designers, a practice that was both consolidated and expanded by Alberto Alessi in the 1970s. In the 1980s, a separate division within the company, Officina Alessi was established to explore and expand this collaboration and well established international architects such as Achille Castiglioni, Alessandro Mendini and Ettore Sottsass were engaged to produce designs for either limited editions or small batch production.

The Megaptera tray designed by Andrea Morgante is a continuation of this now well-established tradition. The name is derived from the ventral grooves of Megaptera whales which expand when feeding to accommodate a larger volume of water. It refers to the grooved ribs in the body of the tray which gives strength and rigidity to the sheet of metal without having to increase its thickness.

Andrea Morgante born in Milan in 1972, where he studied architecture before moving to London to join the practice, RMJM (Robert Matthew Johnson Marshall) which has offices worldwide. In 2001 he joined Future Systems working with Jan Kaplicity and Amanda Levete on projects such as the Selfridges store in Birmingham. In 2009 he set up his own London practice, Shiro Studio which completed the construction of the Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena, Italy, begun by Future Systems and completed projects for major companies including Maserati, Peroni, Siko, Agape and Poltrona as well as Alessi. His work has been extensively reviewed in the design and architectural press.