Piero Fornasetti, Wooden Box, 1950s
View Similar Items
Piero Fornasetti, Wooden Box, 1950s
About the Item
- Creator:Piero Fornasetti (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 2.17 in (5.5 cm)Width: 13.59 in (34.5 cm)Depth: 6.7 in (17 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Stockholm, SE
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1007021597162
Piero Fornasetti
The Italian artist and illustrator 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.
- Jewelry box by Fornasetti, mid-1900sBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Stockholm, SEJewelry box with decor of jewels, by Fornasetti, mid-1900s. Label: Fornasetti Milan. Made in Italy. Lacquered metal. Original brass key.Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Jewelry Boxes
MaterialsLacquer
- Piero Fornasetti, Umbrella Stand, 1950/60sBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Stockholm, SEUmbrella stand with malachite pattern designed by Piero Fornasetti. Italy 1950/60s. Signs of use, botten with smalls signs of rust.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Umbrella Stands
MaterialsMetal
- Rare Umbrella Stand “Bighe” designed by Piero Fornasetti, Italy circa 1960By Piero FornasettiLocated in Stockholm, SEPiero Fornasetti umbrella stand “Bighe”. Lithographically printed metal and brass. Italy, circa 1960. Marked: FORNASETTI MILANO, MADE IN ITALY. Gold label: MADE EXPRESSLY FOR OHLSSO...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern More Desk Accessories
MaterialsBrass
- Herman Bergman, Box, Stockholm, 1940By Herman BergmanLocated in Stockholm, SEBox in pewter and brass by Herman Bergman Konstgjuteri, Stockholm 1940 (O8). Figurative motifs. Wood insert.Category
Vintage 1940s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Decorative Boxes
MaterialsBrass, Pewter
- Pewter Box with Mountain CrystalLocated in Stockholm, SEPewter box with mountain crystal on the lid. No known designer or manufacturer.Category
Vintage 1930s Swedish Decorative Boxes
MaterialsPewter
- Piero Fornasetti, Roman Medallions, Coffee Table, 1960s, ItalyBy FornasettiLocated in Stockholm, SECoffee table by Italian designer Piero Fornasetti, Italy, 1960s. Top with details of Romanesque imagery/ Roman medallions. Lithographic print on lacque...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
- Piero Fornasetti ceramic Owl Box, Italy 1950sBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Milan, ITPiero Fornasetti ceramic Owl Box, Italy 1950s Signed Fornasetti Rare undecorated owl box.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
MaterialsCeramic
- Enameled Desk Box by Piero Fornasetti, Italy, 1950sBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Milan, ITEnameled desk box by Piero Fornasetti.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Decorative Boxes
MaterialsMetal
- Box Piero FornasettiBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Krefeld, DEBox. Piero Fornasetti. Marked with a sticker: Fornasetti made in Italy.Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
MaterialsMetal
- Piero Fornasetti Mahogany Painted Wood Box 1950By Piero FornasettiLocated in Paris, IDFBeautiful Piero Fornasetti decorative box made in Italy in the 1950s. This box is carved from mahogany wood, with painted varnished wood on both sides of the top, and brass side hing...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
MaterialsBrass
- 1950s Rare Piero Fornasetti Smocking BoxBy FornasettiLocated in Water Mill, NYMidcentury rare size P.Fornasetti smocking box.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Boxes
MaterialsMetal
- Vintage Lidded Wooden Box with Brass Hinges by Piero FornasettiBy Piero FornasettiLocated in Doraville, GAA vintage box with a brass hinged lid. The box was designed by Piero Fornasetti in the 1950s / 1960s. The box is composed of what appears to be a mahogany dovetailed wooden box, bras...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
MaterialsMetal, Brass