Atelier Fornasetti

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Artistry 12 History 25 Cultural projects 14

Artistry

The archive consists of 13,000 creations, including objects, decorations and other works: sixty years of Fornasetti practical madness. As the historic legacy and beating heart of the Atelier, it embodies its essential values and illustrates its evolution over time.

SILK-SCREEN PRINTING

Silk-screen printing is a printing technique invented in France in the 1910s. In the Atelier, this method of impressing decorations onto surfaces has always been done by hand. And it's the source of the black graphic lines that are Fornasetti's distinctive feature.

Furniture and accessories are all handmade in Italy, one by one. The Atelier has always been a place where manual skills meet artistic expression, a forge where high craftsmanship is at the service of thought.

Now as always, Fornasetti's creations are hand-painted by the Atelier's painters, who apply colour meticulously following the original period sketches.

The production of artistic porcelain began with the first plates created in 1947. Entirely decorated and painted by hand through the application of silk-screen motifs, then baked in a kiln for several hours.

The decoration transferred to the surface is left to dry for a few months before receiving numerous layers of lacquer: this process seals the decoration, giving the piece of furniture its characteristic lustre and pleasant feel.

History

BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS

Piero Fornasetti is born in Milan on 10 November. The eldest son of a wealthy middle-class family - his father trades in typewriters - he spends his childhood in the Città Studi district. At the age of 10, he already shows a strong artistic disposition.

A PATH OF SELF-EDUCATION

He enrolls at the Brera Academy to study drawing, but is expelled because he rejects the teaching methods. In 1932, he enters the School of Applied Arts at the Castello Sforzesco, training himself and following his own inclinations.

PIERO FORNASETTI AND GIO PONTI

Ponti appreciates the work of Fornasetti's art printworks. In 1939, he entrusts him with the first cover of Domus, of which he is the director. The collaboration evolves: in the 1940s comes the first commission for a piece of furniture decorated with one of his artistic prints.

He opens his Atelier. Alongside technical experimentation, his activity as a printer of art books flourishes. He prints editions and books by the major artists of the time: De Chirico, Campigli, Savinio, Clerici, Fontana.

PUBLIC DECORATIONS

In Padua he frescoes the Rectorate of Palazzo Bo, home of the University. It is his first major public intervention. In Milan he decorates the officers' mess of the barracks in Piazza Sant'Ambrogio.

During the war years he takes refuge in Switzerland, where he becomes a designer for a textile company, paints and works as a set designer and costume designer. These are the years of Follia Pratica (Practical Madness), the self-portraits, and the series of harlequins.

INTERIOR DECORATIONS

He makes eight large panels for the Arlecchino cinema in Milan. He adorns the interiors of the Dulciora pastry shop with a series of very rich decorations, following the principle of horror vacui.

INTERNATIONAL FAME AND A SON

A period of great creativity and international renown begins. He decorates the games room of the Giulio Cesare liner, the interiors of the Hotel Duomo in Milan and the Casino of Sanremo. He exhibits his work in New York. His son Barnaba is born.

"TOTAL LOOK" INTERIORS

Working with Gio Ponti, he creates the first complete interior design for Casa Lucano. He furnishes and decorates a first class cabin of the Andrea Doria ocean liner. He exhibits the Architettura trumeau at the IX Triennale di Milano.

THE CREATION OF AN ICON

The Tema e Variazioni series is born. Over the years he reproduces and reinterprets, varies and reassembles the portrait of Lina Cavalieri countless times, making it one of the icons of the Atelier.

THE METAPHYSICAL ROOM

He concludes and presents the Metaphysical Room, a work composed of thirty-two decorative panels each 3 metres high, which can be arranged in various ways to form a space for meditation. It is his first example of installation art.

THE NEIMAN MARCUS AWARD

For distinguishing himself in the field of fashion, in Dallas he is awarded the Neiman Marcus Award, an annual award for individuals capable of promoting and influencing style.

BARNABA YOUNG ART DIRECTOR

Barnaba Fornasetti attends the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. During his years of study, while still very young, he works with the fabric designer Ken Scott and is the creative director of the underground magazine Get Ready.

He also devotes time to curating exhibitions as well as producing new paintings and drawings. In 1977 he becomes Artistic Director of the Bibliophiles Gallery, founded in 1970. In 1979 he curates a design column in Casa Vogue

COLLABORATION BETWEEN FATHER AND SON

Upon Piero's request, Barnaba returns to Milan from Tuscany, where he was living, and starts working in the Atelier. Father and son begin their partnership by decorating a Ford Granada station wagon together. And that's how the Archivettura was born.

AT THE VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM

The Victoria & Albert Museum acquires the Architettura Trumeau for its permanent furniture collection.

BARNABA IN CHARGE

Piero dies in 1988. Barnaba decides to carry on the legacy of the Atelier and takes over its management. He dedicates these years to re-examining his father's activity, extrapolating principles, methods, characteristics and intuitions.

THE EXHIBITION AT THE VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM

The Victoria and Albert Museum dedicates a large exhibition to Fornasetti, which Barnaba himself helps to set up. The exhibition is also shown at Palazzo Ruspoli in Rome. The first monograph dedicated to Fornasetti is published.

THE FIRST CLOTHING COLLECTION

Barnaba initiates the first creative collaborations, producing a collection of Fornasetti clothing with the fashion designer Lawrence Steele.

At around this time, Barnaba finds an unpublished sketch by Piero for a series of vases, and creates what will go on to become an iconic Fornasetti object. In parallel, he develops new product lines, including Fornasetti wallpapers and Home Fragrances.

THE GREAT RETROSPECTIVES

The centenary of his birth sees the first major exhibition in Italy: Piero Fornasetti. One hundred years of practical madness at the Triennale di Milano. This is followed by appearances at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, DDP in Seoul and Artipelag in Stockholm.

CULTURAL DECORATIONS

Decoration of the Rizzoli bookstore in New York. Restoration and decoration of the Teatro dell'Arte at the Triennale di Milano.

FORNASETTI GOES ON STAGE

Under the artistic direction of Barnaba, Fornasetti produces an opera, The rake punished or Don Giovanni by W.A. Mozart with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, performed for the first time in Italy in its original version.

THE MAD VISIONARIES! AWARD

Barnaba extends Fornasetti's creativity beyond the boundaries of design, establishing artistic collaborations with Commes des Garcons and the artist Anj Smith, as well as decorating a monument in the centre of Milan. He is awarded with the MAD Visionaries! Award.

DIALOGUE WITH THE CLASSICAL

On Barnaba's initiative, two exhibitions are organised on the theme of the dialogue between the language of Fornasetti and classical art, with the title: >i>Practical Quotes. Fornasetti at Palazzo Altemps in Rome, and Fornasetti Theatrum Mundi at the Pilotta in Parma.

Cultural projects

Fornasetti. One Hundred Years of Practical Madness

A century after his birth, the Triennale di Milano dedicates a retrospective to Piero Fornasetti, exploring the artist's work in a wide-ranging way, from graphic art to design objects, from paintings to interior decoration.

Fornasetti. La Folie Pratique

An exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris that recounts 50 years of Piero Fornasetti's art and im-agination: on display are the first paintings, the visionary projects created with Gio Ponti, the prints, and the most iconic creations.

Tema e Variazioni. The first series

Fornasetti celebrates its iconic Tema e Variazioni series by devoting an artist's book to it, made entirely by hand and containing the first 100 variations. The result is a unique, personally signed, limited edition volume.

Fornasetti. Practical Madness

Seoul, Dongdaemun Design Plaza
Over 1300 items tell the story of Fornasetti from his debut as a painter to the art book print workshop, from the close collaboration with Gio Ponti starting in the 1940s to the contemporary works created by Barnaba.

Fornasetti presents The Rake Punished or Don Giovanni in its original version, bringing in a team of outstand-ing artists. The opera is staged at the Triennale di Milano and at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence.

Fornasetti at Palazzo Altemps

The spaces of Palazzo Altemps interact with 27 artistic incursions created using over 800 Fornasetti creations. Practical quotes. Fornasetti at Palazzo Altemps creates an unsettling dialogue between the classical and the Atelier's creative flair.

Fornasetti. Inside In, Outside Out

The first exhibition in Sweden, which encompasses Piero Fornasetti's entire output, from paintings to draw-ings, from graphic art to furniture, from design objects to installations, right up to the contemporary works of his son Barnaba.

Anj Smith: The Mountain of the Muse

Fornasetti collaborates with the English artist Anj Smith, who engages creatively with some of the Atelier's iconic pieces. The collection is presented for the first time, on the occasion of MiArt, at the Poldi Pezzoli Mu-seum in Milan.

Carlo dell'Acqua: S/Oggetti Parziali

A bold challenge, almost a provocation: at the invitation of Barnaba Fornasetti, the artist Carlo Dell'Acqua manipulates, smashes up and then recreates the female face portrayed on the porcelain plates of the Tema e Variazioni series, giving them a new life.

Fornasetti Cult

With the aim of building a space that is always open to the imagination, Fornasetti sets up a non-profit asso-ciation to launch projects and initiatives of an artistic nature. Its first initiatives include the poetry events Pa-role Urbane.

Fornasetti Theatrum Mundi

The dialogue between the architecture and artworks of the Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta in Parma and the imagination of Fornasetti creates a true "theatre of the world": a network of iconographic references and cultural suggestions to inspire new interpretations.

Eroica: Beethoven and Bonaparte

Fornasetti invites three illustrious scholars to investigate the connection between Beethoven and Napoleon. The result is a volume of critical essays accompanied by a CD containing the Eroica Symphony, performed by the Silete Venti! orchestra and directed by Simone Toni.

The cultural series presented by Fornasetti Cult. and curated by Stefano Raimondi with the actress Marta Comerio.
A dialogue between the city and the words depicting it, for the first time conceived as a podcast featuring major voices from the Italian cultural world, both literary and scientific.
Audio in Italian only.

Fornasetti servitore di Arlecchino

The exhibition pays tribute to the recent restoration of the decorative panels designed by Piero for the foyer of the Cinema Arlecchino in Milan (1948). Sketches, colour models, a screen and other objects testify to the genesis of the Harlequin theme.

The atelier

where imagination

meets design