Piero Fornasetti (1913 - 1988)
Related: Italian design - decorative arts
Typical Fornasetti design
Profile
Piero Fornasetti lived and worked in Milan from 1935, when he was only twenty-two, until his death in 1988. During this long career he established an enduring reputation as a designer with a style that was all his own -- a style based on illusionism, architectural perspectives, and a host of personal leitmotifs, such as the sun, playing cards, fish and flowers, from which he spun seemingly endless variations.
Fornasetti applied his decorative vocabulary to an astonishing array of objects -- "fashion items", as he put it, "which never go out of fashion". Hats, waistcoats, pipes, ashtrays, chairs, plates, cabinets, pianos, shops, cars, ocean liners -- all were transformed by the application of unexpected images. A Corinthian capital is literally pressed into service as a chair back; a La Scala program cover decorates a scarf; a girl's Lace, split down the middle, adorns a plate. "He makes objects speak", said Gio Ponti, his friend and longtime collaborator. Fornasetti worked in almost every medium -- drawings, graphics, architecture, trompe l'oeil, themes and variations, nature.
The Post-Modernist Reappraisal
The Post-Modernist reappraisal of design has left Fornasetti's oeuvre more contemporary and popular than ever. Designers and collectors today celebrate his use of allusion, unsettling images, and striking juxtaposition to create unique, whimsical objects. Fornasetti's masterpieces shock, delight and inspire. [...]
Fornasetti: Designer of Dreams () (Piero Fornasetti)
Fornasetti: Designer of Dreams () (Piero Fornasetti) [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
When we discovered plates, chairs and other decorative gadgets from Fornasetti some years ago, we did not imagine, my wife and I, that a real artist lied behind all these creations. I was really impressed when I discovered in that book the beautiful face of the artist and when I learned that he would never create any more because he already passed away. Fornassetti art is mainly decorative. It pleased every body because it is an harmonius equilibrium between classical inspiration and to-day printing technologies. If you do not know where to buy furniture inspired by Fornasetti, buy this book and place it on a coffee table. Everybody will want to read it. - www.delalonde.com for amazon.com
Piero Fornasetti (2005) - Brigitte Fitoussi, Phillipe Starck
Piero Fornasetti: A Conversation between Philippe Starck and Barnaba Fornasetti (2005) - Brigitte Fitoussi, Phillipe Starck [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
See also: Piero Fornasetti - Italy - design - Italian design
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