Customer Reviews

Fornasetti: Designer of Dreams (Piero Fornasetti)

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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.

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.

This is a review of the 1991 hard cover edition published to coincide with the exhibition FORNASETTI: DESIGNER OF DREAMS which was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, October 2, 1991, to January 19, 1992. A Foreward by Christopher Wilk, curator of Furniture and Interior Design at the V & A is included, along with an essay by Ettore Sottsass, founder of the Memphis furniture group.

Although there are over 600 illustrations, both drawings and photographs, it is far from an all-inclusive record of Piero Fornasetti's work from 1935 (at age 22 in Milan) to his death in 1988. However, in addition to his well-known ceramics and laminated furnishings, there are images of his drawings, including his phallic series, fabrics, and complete interiors, such as those for the ocean liner Andrea Doria. Biographical information is also included.

Despite Fornasetti's liberal recycling of classic images of architectural elements, the sun, playing cards, etc., with endless variations on a theme, the graphics always remained fresh and inspirational. The whimsy and delight of these objects has remained as significant in today's world of chic decorative arts as it was when they were first introduced. Sadly for new collectors, prices have remained as high as the style factor. A good reference for now, but hopefully a full catalog will someday be published.

I wish there was more pictures.. I did not realize it was more of a biography, my mistake!!!
But very nice quality.