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Fornasetti: Designer of Dreams (Piero Fornasetti) [Paperback]

Patrick Mauričs
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Book Description

2006 Piero Fornasetti

“Glorious . . . almost as good as owning one of the things themselves.”—The World of Interiors

Piero Fornasetti lived and worked in Milan from 1935 until his death in 1988. During this long career he established an enduring reputation as a designer with a style that was distinctly his own—a style based on illusion, 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—hats, vests, pipes, ashtrays, chairs, plates, cabinets, pianos, ocean liners—and transformed them by the application of unexpected images.

Today his work seems more contemporary and is more popular than ever. Designers and collectors celebrate his use of allusion, unsettling images, and striking juxtaposition to create unique, whimsical objects. Fornasetti’s masterpieces continue to shock, delight, and inspire. 116 color and 484 black-and-white photographs and illustrations

Frequently Bought Together

Fornasetti: Designer of Dreams (Piero Fornasetti) + Fornasetti: The Complete Universe
Price for both: $196.05

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“By ignoring the winds of fashion, Fornasetti often presaged it and eventually outlasted it. . . . He invented a world that was simply too enchanting to be real.” (Art & Antiques )

“In an age of sleek, unadorned Modernism, Fornasetti ran counter to and took joyous delight in decorating anything and everything.” (Maine Antique Digest )

“[A book] we are fortunate to have back in print.” (Interior Design )

About the Author

Patrick Mauriès is the author of Cabinets of Curiosities and founder of Le Promeneur, a Parisian publishing house that has restored authors both ancient and modern to their place in the literary world.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Thames & Hudson; 1st pb edition (2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0500280517
  • ISBN-13: 978-0500280515
  • Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 1.3 x 11.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #793,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
(4)
4.5 out of 5 stars
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars very impressive June 18, 2000
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.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book However... May 15, 2007
I wish there was more pictures.. I did not realize it was more of a biography, my mistake!!!

But very nice quality.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Stars Barely Apply Here December 25, 2005
It's rather sad that not only is this book out of print and absurdly hard-to-find, but that finding any generally available record of Fornasetti's work seems to be an impossible goal nowadays. Pretty much everything that is missing from the contemporary world--wit, whimsy, engaging complexity, craft, imagination, humanity, a sense of history (sorry, it's a long list of absentees!)--can be found in this man's remarkable graphic work. How to describe it? Well, think of old architectural prints, renderings of sea life, hot air balloons, astrological symbols, the sun with a warm countenance, the visual vocabulary of the Renaissance recombined and recyled and reused with a mildly surrealist but distinctly upbeat edge. The result is a style of design that wraps the present in the past, sometimes almost literally, always lovingly.

Hardly a review, I mean where will you get the book without spending $100 (although I feel it's worth it, the book is excellent and packed with examples of his work). Do a Fornasetti Google for images and revel in the stuff. A bit of that and you may be willing to spring for the book or pester a publisher.
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