Fornasetti

the brand

Piero Fornasetti was a Milanese painter, sculptor, interior decorator and printer. His artistic production, taken up and reinterpreted today by his son Barnaba, is composed of an instantly recognizable visual vocabulary.

Fornasetti communicates a vision imbued with poetry and magic in his representation of a dreamlike world full of fantasy.

The "Fornasetti Profumi per la Casa" collection brings this unique world to life through a range of hand-made perfumed decorative items.

A visionary, Fornasetti sees himself simply as a decorative artist, despite his boundless imagination for the applications of his art. Design collaborations were natural for him: he has worked with architects and designers on interiors as diverse as those of Milan's Arlecchino cinema, the transatlantic liner Andrea Doria, the Sanremo casino and the Milanese pastry shop Dulciora. He has also collaborated with ceramist Bitossi and stylist Liliana Berio.

Concept

Thanks to his business acumen and creative spirit, Barnaba has managed to keep his family name alive. Keen to respect his father's vision, he is skillful in reinterpreting his designs, which he applies with precision and humour to existing objects and others he has designed himself, ensuring a creative continuity that appeals to the brand's many collectors. This central collection is still masterfully crafted on a small scale by craftsmen in the Fornasetti workshop in Milan. Barnaba has also implemented new collaborations and licenses, including the recent development of a collection with architect Nigel Coates. Other licenses include carpets, wallpaper, ceramic vases and now a collection of home fragrances.

Fornasetti's candles each reveal a story of their own.

founder, Piero Fornasetti

Artist, poet, designer, craftsman, printer... There are no words to define Piero Fornasetti's unique talent. Born in 1913, this visionary revolutionised the decorative arts in the 20th century. Revered for his masterful application of two-dimensional art to three-dimensional form, he has adapted his designs to objects, furniture, interiors, theatre sets, clothing and accessories, magazine covers and books, always with humour and poetry.

Around 1940, when Piero had already made a name for himself with his studio in Milan for almost ten years, his work took a new turn when he met Gio Ponti, a modernist designer who invited him to decorate his bare rooms. They worked together for the next two decades, Ponti designing shop windows, desks and armchairs which Fornasetti then covered with elaborate patterns, creating illusions and trompe l'oeil around their shapes. Classical architecture, the Renaissance and contemporary metaphysical painters such as de Chirico are an obvious source of inspiration, but Fornasetti's meticulous designs derived from these influences and the applications Fornasetti conceives defy classification.