Piero Fornasetti

Piero Fornasetti - Rebellious behaviour led him to abandon university

Piero Fornasetti was born in Milan on 10th November 1913, one of four children of a wealthy entrepreneurial family with a latent penchant for art. Although his early interest in art was encouraged and understood, his parents believed that it could only be a leisure pursuit and not a serious source of income. However, when his brother agreed to take over the management of the family business, Piero Fornasetti was finally able to attend the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. Although his obvious talent earned him a scholarship, his non-conformist, rebellious behaviour led to him being expelled after two years of study. This did not deter him however, and Fornasetti quickly sought his own path as an autodidact - training on his own was much more in line with his egocentric and quite difficult character anyway. He continued to work as a painter in Milan, but increasingly developed a keen interest in sculpture, design and arts and crafts.

Friendship and fruitful collaboration with Gio Ponti

In 1933, aged just 20, Piero Fornasetti took part in the Milan Triennale where his painted silk foulards attracted the attention of architect and designer Gio Ponti. He became one of the young artist's most important friends and patrons in the years that followed, and their collaborative projects included the interior design of the famous luxury ship Andrea Doria. Fornasetti also spent four years designing covers for Ponti's architecture magazine Domus, in which several of his works were also published. It is not individual works that prove the artist's fame and illustrate his genius; it is the totality of an oeuvre that is thought, moved, and designed in all possible directions. Only when viewed as a whole does it become clear how comprehensively and restlessly Piero Fornasetti's creative spirit was active. After the artist's death, his son Barnaba Fornasetti took over the task of marketing his father's work - and showed extraordinary skill in doing so: Thanks to his efforts, the Fornasetti name became a brand.

A lover of imaginative and playful décor

Piero Fornasetti developed a peculiar fascination for the opera singer Lina Cavalieri, who was considered the most beautiful woman of her time, wore out five husbands and numerous lovers, and turned the heads of even more unfortunates. Fornasetti never met the diva himself; it was only after her death that he became aware of the beauty and made her expressive face his trademark. The soprano's face appeared in his designs more often than the other motifs he favoured, such as playing cards, suns, hands, sea monsters and harlequins: she adorned his lampshades, ashtrays, bookends and cups. The hard-working artist eventually opened his own shop in Milan, where his ideas found a first-hand audience.

Piero Fornasetti died on 1st October 1988 in his birthplace and hometown of Milan.