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H&A LIFESTYLE: Antiques

Lend a playful tone to your interior scheme with architectural details, antique plaster or marble, and witty illustrated ceramics

FORNASETTI: wonder and whimsy Instantly recognisable and endlessly beguiling, the timeless mid-century work of Piero Fornasetti has enjoyed a revival in the last 30 years. We look at how he took the ordinary and made it extraordinary F E AT U R E R O S A N N A M O R R I S P H OTO G R A P H S K AT YA D E G R U N WA L D S T Y L I N G A L I B R A D S H AW

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H&A LIFESTYLE: Antiques

A rebellious nature

Piero Fornasetti was born into a bourgeois family in Milan in 1913, the son of an accountant. From an early 4 6 H&A F E B RUA RY 2 017

age he started to draw and, much to his father’s chagrin, he yearned to be an artist. He enrolled at Milan’s Brera Academy in 1930, but his education there did not last long – he was expelled for insubordination in 1932 after clashing with the traditional institution over the exclusion of life drawing. Instead, he taught himself lithography and etching, spending days reading magazines and books on arts and science, and enrolling at the Night School of Applied Arts at Castello Sforzesco in Milan.

In 1933, he exhibited his first artwork as part of a student show at Milano University. The same year, a series of printed silk scarves he’d created piqued the interest of architect and designer Gio Ponti and the two men teamed up, marrying Ponti’s signature angular forms with Fornasetti’s witty and whimsical decorative motifs.

You could collect all the different areas all your life and never get bored. There are so many themes, colours and styles

ABOVE Arrange a coffee table with trinkets and

trays, incense and books. Make it an interesting place to pause and gaze FACING PAGE Curate a cosy and curious sitting room, starting with a backdrop of dark moody walls. Layer with Grecian and Roman patterns then accent the space with stylish gold and brass on mirrors or lighting

Shoot and design coordinator: Kirsty Lyons. Photographer’s assistant: Savvas Zinonos. Stylist’s assistants: Lucy Blofeld and Sam Cunningham

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o encounter the work of Italian painter, sculptor, interior decorator and engraver Piero Fornasetti is to tumble into a surreal and kaleidoscopic world of flying machines, suns with moustaches, playing card cities, vegetable faces, birds and butterflies.

Where Alice in Wonderland meets Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Where a chest of drawers looks like a neoclassical building, a chair back is a Greek pillar, a screen evokes a forest and a Doberman is an umbrella stand. Fornasetti’s imagination knew no bounds.

‘He had the vision of an artist from the Renaissance, born by chance in the early 1900s,’ says his son Barnaba, who has run the business, now Atelier Fornasetti, since his father’s death in 1988. ‘An artist surely connected to ancient classics but able to look at the future without the obsession of being contemporary.’

Fornasetti’s inimitable oeuvre comprises far more than the now-iconic face of his muse, the 1900s opera singer Lina Cavalieri, with her bee-stung lips and doe-eyed stare that looks out from plates, trays and other home accessories today. From the 1940s to the 1980s, his incredible imagination churned out 13,000 designs, many of which were applied lithographically to decorate the surfaces of furniture, ceramics, screens, textiles and other objects, making for an endlessly enchanting collecting field.

‘You could collect all the different areas all your life and never get bored,’ says Holly Johnson, who has been dealing in vintage Fornasetti for over 20 years. ‘There are so many different themes, colours and styles. He was totally obsessed and a total genius.’

H&A LIFESTYLE: Antiques

Entertain your guests with a humorous and captivating dining room. Introduce optical illusions into mirrors and rugs, play with scale on oversized vases and statues, and produce a ‘peep show’ of Fornasetti’s famous faces FACING PAGE Mix and mismatch both old and new pieces. The monochrome colour and quirky illustrations will hold the look together

They collaborated in the 1940s and 50s on almanacs, covers for Domus and Stile magazines, furniture, the interior of the casino at San Remo (1950) and the cabins and first-class salons of the transatlantic liner Andrea Doria (1952). By far the most enduring emblem of their partnership, however, is the trumeau cocktail cabinet ‘Architettura’ – considered Fornasetti’s greatest masterpiece. One of these original cabinets, which features trompe-l’oeil architectural designs of the Alessi Palace in Genoa, is in the Victoria & Albert Museum collection. The piece embodies Fornasetti’s fascination with 16thcentury Italian mannerist art as well as 20th-century surrealism.

Fornasetti’s success reached its zenith in the 1950s, and collectors included Hollywood’s Billy Wilder and Henry Miller. It was a time when Italy was ahead of the game stylistically, viewed globally as a trendsetter with its Ferraris, fashion and films. During this period, Fornasetti created his ‘Themes & Variations’ series, a collection of plates featuring the face of fin de siècle opera singer Lina Cavalieri. He came across Lina’s face in a magazine, started painting it in 1952 and never stopped.

He ended with a series of more than 350 pieces as he reimagined her – as a thief, an Arabian princess, a deep-sea diver and dozens of other incarnations.

By the 1980s, interiors had become more minimal and popularity for Fornasetti’s bold patterns waned. The company was struggling financially (see right) but when Liliane Fawcett opened her Notting Hill gallery in November 1984, named Themes & Variations after his iconic series, it heralded a rebirth for the brand. ‘He had been forgotten,’ says Fawcett, whose business partner was from Milan and knew of the designer’s tiny shop there. ‘So we decided to open our gallery with an exhibition of Fornasetti. Little by little people stopped laughing and started to take us seriously.’ Fornasetti didn’t attend the show as he had too many requirements: ‘One of his less extravagant requests was that we serve pizza all night for the opening,’ she remembers.

FORNASETTI TODAY Piero’s son Barnaba still produces designs in the style of his father. The elder Fornasetti asked Barnaba to work with him when the company was struggling in the early 1980s.

‘He was more accommodating and open to my suggestions,’ says Barnaba, who was constantly inspired by his father, especially as a child.

One of his fondest memories, Barnaba says, was when he was three. ‘I brought my father a hydrangea leaf and I put a daisy flower on it as a present. He made a tray with the leaf and the flower, and put it in production.’ Since his father’s death in 1988, Barnaba has reshaped and rebuilt the Fornasetti legacy, creating highend, limited-edition pieces as well as a range of more accessible home accessories, sold in stores such as Selfridges and Liberty, using the incredible archive of designs. He has opened a showroom in Milan and collaborated with design houses such as Cole & Son, with which he launched a collection of wallpapers.

‘Barnaba’s one-off limited numbers of furniture are very different to the candles and smaller objects,’ says specialist dealer Holly Johnson. ‘Collectors buy them as soon as they come out.’ Indeed, Johnson is selling a 2014 ‘Architettura’ trumeau cabinet for £45,000, while at design store Amara, a new wall plate is £125 and candles are £115. Barnaba says the greatest thing his father taught him was to use his imagination. ‘Being an authoritarian father, he strengthened my nature and he taught me to fight and resist conformism and mediocrity,’ he says. ‘He taught me to bear always in mind the classical orders for proportion and balance, spaces and shapes. Today I have his entire archive and it’s an amazing inspiration for me. When I need to find ideas I lose myself in this huge and rich archive. This artistic world is perfect for finding images to manipulate.

However, what inspires me the most is nature, rather than architecture or images.’

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H&A LIFESTYLE: Antiques

Such is the popularity of Fornasetti that collectors go for both new and old pieces

AFFORDABLE FORNASETTI The entry point for vintage Fornasetti pieces used to be quite low at around £10. Today, that bottom price has risen to £200. Holly Johnson is selling a 1960 porcelain ‘Paprika’ jar for £380, while a 1990 Atelier Fornasetti plate is £450. As for new pieces, Amara has wall plates at £125 and pencil holders for £87.50.

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Timeless appeal

Such is the popularity of Fornasetti that collectors go for both new and old pieces, with rare originals from the 1950s commanding serious money.

Certain his style could not be mistaken for any other, Fornasetti never signed his objects. Barnaba’s reissues and limited edition pieces, on the other hand, are signed, numbered and dated to differentiate them from the earlier works. ‘There is a difference between the vintage and newer pieces, which is reflected in the prices,’ says Johnson. An original 1950s version of the ‘Architettura’ cabinet can sell for £180,000 today, while a new version, created in limited numbers by Atelier Fornasetti, costs £45,000. According to Johnson, Fornasetti has been increasing in value every year since the 1990s.

‘When I started buying, it was a lot cheaper. It’s really good for investment.’

Retrospective exhibitions in Milan and Paris in recent years have further cemented the value of Fornasetti works.

The artist has influenced many designers in the last few decades, none more so than Sue Timney, whose creations also feature bold, monochrome graphics (see Sue’s house with its Fornasetti plate collection in H&A’s May 2015 issue). ‘I was working with Paul Smith in 1981 and he said I should check out Fornasetti’s work as he thought we had a lot in common,’ she says. ‘He was right – in fact, that was the beginning of a love affair with Fornasetti for me.’ Timney bought her first plate at a jumble sale in South Kensington in 1982 and she now has about 60 pieces, mostly plates. ‘The ‘Capitello Corinzio’ chair was the first really expensive piece I bought. It was around 1986 and I walked into Themes & Variations and fell in love with it.’

Ask any Fornasetti connoisseur whether they have a favourite design and the answer is no. ‘You can’t have a favourite,’ says Fawcett. ‘There is the whimsical side such as the ‘City of Cards’ design – something out of Alice in Wonderland. Then the ‘Palladiana’ chest of drawers and the ‘Capitello’ chair, which are architectural. I like the fact it’s all so different.’

His work is so diverse that it’s hard to believe it came from the mind of one man. ‘The volcanic and seemingly boundless nature of his work, one spontaneously thinks of some dark alchemic art, of magic,’ says his son, Barnaba. ‘The secret of his work, however, as he himself revealed, lies only in method: “It is said that I make my items using secret methods. I laugh…

My only secret is the rigour with which I carry out my work, the serenity of choice”.’ ■

Sculpt yourself a space for creative exploration that is anything but sterile. Decorate the walls with a textured malachite paper and introduce colour with vintage seating, lighting and accessories FACING PAGE Enrich your scheme with clever decorative illustrations to enchant and charm the viewer

H&A LIFESTYLE: Antiques

STYLIST’S NOTEBOOK

Find out more

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WHERE TO BUY NEW & OLD ❈ Amara 0800 587 7645; amara.com ❈ August Interiors 020 8304 0582; augustinteriors.co.uk ❈ Cole & Son 020 8442 8844; cole-and-son.com ❈ Emmett & White Antiques & Interiors, 1 Cross House, Waterloo Square, Alfriston, East Sussex, BN26 5UD. 01323 870595; emmettandwhite.com ❈ Holly Johnson Antiques & Design (by appointment only), The Woodwork Shop, Lyme Green Settlement, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 0LD. 01260 253110; hollyjohnsonantiques.com ❈ Liberty London, Regent Street, London, W1B 5AH. 020 7734 1234; libertylondon.com ❈ Milk Concept Boutique, The Clerk’s House, 118 1/2 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6JN. 020 7729 9880; milkconceptboutique.co.uk ❈ Themes & Variations, 231 Westbourne Grove, London, W11 2SE. 020 7727 5531; themesandvariations.com ❈ 1st Dibs 1stdibs.com

WHAT TO READ

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Walls painted in ‘Tallanstown Grey’, £42.50 per 2.5l, Paint & Paper Library. ‘Palloni’ plates, c1955, £6,800 for a set of nine, Holly Johnson Antiques & Design. ‘Sole’ table, £1,100, Themes & Variations.

On table (from left): ‘Harlequin’ cup and saucer by Fornasetti, c1950, £1,500 for six, Holly Johnson Antiques & Design; antique books, from £30 each, Maison Artefact; set of plaster intaglios, £350 for 23, Lassco; ‘Casa con Colonne’ vase, £185, Milk Concept Boutique; ‘Labbra’ scented candle in a jar, £115, Amara; vintage Fornasetti tray, £95 for two, August Interiors. Marble columns, from £414 each, Retrouvius.

Glass ball from ‘Still Alive’ desk set, £270, Amara.

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‘Greek Key’ rug, £2,795, Jonathan Adler. Vintage coffee table, £795, Emmett & White Antiques & Interiors. On table (from left): gold-edged dish, £95 for two, August Interiors; ‘Flora’ incense box, £145, Milk Concept Boutique; musical coasters, £425 for eight, Emmett & White Antiques & Interiors; Fornasetti: The Complete Universe book, £180, Milk Concept Boutique; ring dish, £125, Emmett & White Antiques & Interiors; trinkets, stylist’s own. Leaf tobacco box, c1950, £500, Holly Johnson Antiques & Design.

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Walls painted in ‘Down Pipe’, £39.50 per 2.5l, Farrow & Ball. ‘Greek Key’ rug, £2,795, Jonathan Adler. ‘Tango’ armchair in ‘Marble Butterly Jade’, £1,138; ‘Tango’ sofa in ‘Estella Teal’, £1,859; small cushion on sofa (just seen), £168, all Duresta

for Matthew Williamson at Barker & Stonehouse.

Fornasetti cushions (on sofa), £210 each, Milk Concept Boutique. ‘Celia’ cushion (on armchair, just seen), £72, Rockett St George. ‘Bristol’ easel floor lamp, £650, Jonathan Adler. Vintage plate (on lamp), £245, Emmett & White Antiques & Interiors. ‘Architettura’ console, £3,750, Milk Concept Boutique. Plaster capitol (on console), £114, Retrouvius. Pocket watch mirror by Fornasetti, £1,995, August Interiors. Vintage coffee table, £795, Emmett & White Antiques & Interiors. On table (from left): Fornasetti chess board, £700; ‘T&V 1’ teapot, £325; ‘Cammei’ cup and saucer, £175; ‘Flora’ incense box, £145; ‘L’Antipatico’ gold vase, £840; ‘Pennini’ candle jar, £125; ashtray, £150, all Milk Concept Boutique.

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Main walls painted in ‘Tallanstown Grey’; top wall painted in ‘Morning Room’, both £42.50 per 2.5l, Paint & Paper Library. Geometric rug, from £165, Rockett St George. Rosewood Italian dining table, c1950, £850, Circus Antiques. On table (from left): ‘Harlequin’ cup and saucer, c1950 by Fornasetti, £1,500 for six, Holly Johnson Antiques & Design; antique books, from £30 each, Maison Artefact; ‘Still Alive’ desk set by Seletti, £270, Amara; ‘Campana’ urn, £1,650 for two, Lassco. ‘Ionic’ chair, c1970, £4,950; ‘Sole’ chair, c1950, £12,000, both Holly Johnson Antiques & Design. For a similar violin try Hobgoblin Music. ‘Gstaad’ chair, £3,500, Themes & Variations.

❈ Fornasetti by Barnaba Fornasetti and Philippe Starck (Assouline, 2005) ❈ Fornasetti: Designer of Dreams

by Patrick Mauriès (Thames & Hudson, 1998) ❈ Fornasetti: The Complete Universe by Barnaba Fornasetti (Rizzoli International Publications, 2010) ❈ Making Marks: And the Design of Timney Fowler by Sue Timney (Pointed Leaf Press, 2010) ❈ Piero Fornasetti: Practical Madness by Patrick Mauriès and Barnaba Fornasetti (Rizzoli International Publications, 2015)

WHERE TO SEE ❈ Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL. 020 7942 2000; vam.ac.uk (Visit the Ceramic Study Galleries in room 139 to see Fornasetti’s pottery pieces including an array of gilded plates. You’ll also find the ‘Architettura’ cabinet by Gio Ponti and Fornasetti in the National Art Library, room 76)

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On mantelpiece (from left): glass ‘Morpheo’ candelabra by Seletti, £135, Amara; Italian green pressed glass vase, £80, Lassco; ‘Losanghe’ candle jar, £125, Amara; ‘Sole’ vase, £225, Milk Concept Boutique; antique confit pot, from £145 each, Cubbit Antiques; pyramid storage set, £398, Jonathan Adler.

‘Dionysus’ plaster figure, £800, Cubbit Antiques.

On wall: ‘Cammei’ mirror, c1950, £6,800, Holly Johnson Antiques & Design; plates, £200 each, Milk Concept Boutique.

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‘Mykonos’ place mat, £28 each; ‘Nixon’ napkin ring, £128 for four; ‘Malachite’ napkin, £28 each, all Jonathan Adler. ‘Keytlery’ cutlery by Seletti, £245 for a set of 24, Amara. Porcelain plate, c1990, £450, Holly Johnson Antiques & Design. ‘L’Antipatico’ cup and saucer, £150, Milk Concept Boutique. Owl tray, £980,

by Atelier Fornasetti, Holly Johnson Antiques & Design.

Monkey candle holder, £29; black candle, £2.95,

both Rockett St George. Find a similar glass for flowers at Rockett St George. Mid-century Italian cocktail glasses, from £35 each, Lassco. Vintage Fornasetti coasters, £95 for two, August Interiors.

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Walls papered in ‘Malachite’ (77/7024), £90 per roll, ‘The Fornasetti Collection’ at Cole & Son. Woodwork painted in ‘Studio Green’, £39.50 per 2.5l, Farrow & Ball. ‘Diamond’ runner, £60, Rockett St George. Vintage Fornasetti ‘Spinoni’ umbrella stand, c1950, £5,750, Holly Johnson Antiques & Design. ‘Libri’ magazine rack by Fornasetti, £1,200; umbrellas from £25 each, both Amara.

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Walls papered in ‘Malachite’ (77/7024), £90 per roll, ‘The Fornasetti Collection’ at Cole & Son. Woodwork painted in ‘Studio Green’, £39.50 per 2.5l, Farrow & Ball. ‘Sole’ chair, £12,000, Holly Johnson Antiques & Design. ‘Compass’ table by Matthew Hilton,

£1,110, SCP. On table (from left): Bronze ‘Dionysus’ Italian sculpture, £2,200, Lassco; ‘Porta’ bookends, c1950, £1,250, Holly Johnson Antiques & Design; antique books, from £30 each, Maison Artefact; ‘Gedeo’ clay, £8; ‘Gedeo’ modelling tools four-piece set, £7, both Hobbycraft; ‘Strumenti Scrittura’ pen pot, £150, Milk Concept Boutique; red tools, £4 for a set of four; similar canvas, paintbrushes and pencils, all Hobbycraft; plaster intaglios set, £350, Lassco; vintage flags tray, £195, Emmett & White Antiques & Interiors; early porcelain lidded jar, c1960, £580, Holly Johnson Antiques & Design. 1960s Italian floor lamp, £875, Cubbit Antiques. On wall: framed architectural prints, £125 each, Emmett & White Antiques & Interiors.

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