Fornasetti Coromandel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tray Tables
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Cabinets
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern North and South American Rugs
Wool
Early 2000s Italian Mid-Century Modern Credenzas
Wood
People Also Browsed
2010s Austrian Jugendstil Chandeliers and Pendants
Silk
2010s South African Minimalist Pedestals
Hardwood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and...
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary English Modern Platters and Serveware
Iron
2010s Turkish Modern Vases
Glass
2010s South African Minimalist Night Stands
Burl, Poplar
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Walnut, Birch
2010s Italian Dinner Plates
Porcelain
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Vases
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Bookends
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Table Lamps
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Bottles
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Travertine, Marble, Onyx, Stainless Steel, Brass
Vintage 1960s French Art Deco Signs
Plaster
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Pillows and Throws
Silk
Recent Sales
Vintage 1960s Italian Tray Tables
Metal
Vintage 1950s Italian Table Lamps
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Tray Tables
Metal
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Serving Pieces
Metal
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Tray Tables
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Tray Tables
Vintage 1960s Italian Table Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1950s Italian Modern Vases
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tray Tables
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Umbrella Stands
Brass, Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Umbrella Stands
Metal, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Cabinets
Wood
Fornasetti for sale on 1stDibs
The Italian artist, illustrator and furniture maker Piero Fornasetti was one of the wittiest and most imaginative design talents of the 20th century. He crafted an inimitable decorative style from a personal vocabulary of images that included birds, butterflies, hot-air balloons, architecture and — most frequently, and in some 500 variations — an enigmatic woman’s face based on that of the 19th-century opera singer Lina Cavalieri. Fornasetti used transfer prints of these images, rendered in the style of engravings, to decorate an endless variety of furnishings and housewares that ranged from chairs, tables and desks to dinner plates, lamps and umbrella stands. His work is archly clever, often surreal and always fun.
Fornasetti was born in Milan, the son of an accountant, and he lived his entire life in the city. He showed artistic talent as a child and enrolled at Milan’s Brera Academy of Fine Art in 1930, but was expelled after two years for consistently failing to follow his professors’ orders. A group of his hand-painted silk scarves, displayed in the 1933 Triennale di Milano, caught the eye of the architect and designer Gio Ponti, who, in the 1940s, became Fornasetti’s collaborator and patron. Beginning in the early 1950s, they created a striking a series of desks, bureaus and secretaries that pair Ponti’s signature angular forms with Fornasetti’s decorative motifs — lighthearted arrangements of flowers and birds on some pieces, austere architectural imagery on others. The two worked together on numerous commissions for interiors, though their greatest project has been lost: the first-class lounges and restaurants of the luxury ocean liner Andrea Doria, which sank in 1956.
Fornasetti furnishings occupy an unusual and compelling niche in the decorative arts: they are odd yet pack a serious punch. They act, essentially, as functional sculpture. A large Fornasetti piece such as a cabinet or a desk can change the character of an entire room; his smaller works have the aesthetic power of a vase of flowers, providing a bright and alluring decorative note. The chimerical, fish-nor-fowl nature of Fornasetti’s work may be its greatest strength. It stands on its own. Bringing the Fornasetti look into the future is Barnaba Fornasetti, who took the reins of the company after his father's death.