Machine knotted wool rug. Signed on two sides Fornasetti and graphic symbol Licensed by Louis de Poortere Piero Fornasetti (Milan, November 10, 1913 - Milan, October 15, 1988) represented the twentieth century in the most creative and original way possible, telling his vision of the world through iconic objects, paintings, sculptures, art books and interior decorations. For over half a century the name Fornasetti has been synonymous with magic, that of craftsmanship that borders on art, that of the dream that generates fantastic, surreal, metaphysical worlds. Whether it’s furniture, plates, candles or carpets, it doesn’t matter: the Fornasetti style is immediately recognizable, decorative without ever being futile, bold and visionary, but with an essential attention to functionality. At the age of twenty, he exhibited at the Triennale his first foulards printed on canvas, drawing the attention of Gio Ponti with whom he began a long period of collaboration and friendship: from 1940 he began to draw the famous lunars commissioned by Gio Ponti. In the Fifties he continued his collaboration with Gio Ponti, who involved him in the creation of public and private spaces: while Ponti designed, Fornasetti decorated, leaving his unmistakable signature and giving a surreal touch to each project. Examples are the Sanremo Casino and the ocean liner Andrea Doria. He has always lived between the surreal and fantastic world of his imagination and the reality of the twentieth century and it was precisely this dualism that characterized his every work. Called "dandy craftsman and artist", he had a unique ability to transform everyday objects into works of art: the wise use of bright colors and recurring iconographic references such as playing cards, musical instruments, hands, shells, masks but also fish butterflies and, Above all, sun and moon. His production as a decorator ranged among the most diverse objects: in his Milanese workshop we could find him struggling with dishes, tea services, ashtrays, umbrella stands, chandeliers, scarves, wallpaper and carpets. Any object decorated by Fornasetti changed its appearance, transformed into something unique thanks to the evocative and eccentric language used by the artist. To collect the legacy is his son, Barnaba Fornasetti, born in 1954, still at the helm of the family business. An enemy of conformity and mediocrity, Barnabas kept his father’s collections alive and signed new ones.
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