Fornasetti Pocket Watches Design Box
About the Item
- Creator:Piero Fornasetti (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 1.58 in (4 cm)Width: 11.82 in (30 cm)Depth: 4.93 in (12.5 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Good, some wear to the surface decoration.
- Seller Location:Henley-on Thames, GB
- Reference Number:Seller: 16471stDibs: LU977322551412
Piero Fornasetti
The Italian artist and designer Piero Fornasetti was one of the wittiest and most imaginative 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 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 decorative objects to dinner plates, table lamps and umbrella stands. His work is archly clever, often Surrealist 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 Fornasetti's 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 the artist's collaborator and patron. Beginning in the early 1950s, they created a striking 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.
Find vintage Piero Fornasetti dinner plates, chairs, tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
You May Also Like
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Jewelry Boxes
Metal
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Metal, Enamel
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Metal
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Metal
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Metal, Enamel
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Cigar Boxes and Humidors
Metal
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Metal, Brass
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Metal, Enamel
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Metal
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Boxes
Metal
More From This Seller
View AllLate 20th Century French Art Deco Decorative Boxes
Brass
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Jewelry Boxes
Silver Plate
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Magazine Racks and Stands
Brass, Steel
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Magazine Racks and Stands
Metal
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
Ceramic
20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Vases
Ceramic
