Inside the World of Famed Design House Fornasetti

With an incredible 3,000 photographs and illustrations, Rizzoli's massive new monograph on iconic Italian design house Fornasetti is a work of art in itself. Fornasetti: The Complete Universe details how the firm's founder Piero Fornasetti (1913–1988) achieved fame transforming everyday objects into works of art featuring idiosyncratic designs. His work is carried on today by his son Barnaba Fornasetti, who now runs the Fornasetti atelier and authored the impressive volume. Designed to be an "artist's book" that reflects Fornasetti's iconic overall approach to design, the slipcased $250 monograph is divided into two sections: the first half is dedicated to Piero Fornasetti as an artist and highlights his pictorial and graphic work and their artistic applications; the second half focuses on the 70-plus years of the atelier's production.

This includes furniture, sculptures and etchings, graphics, textiles, glass, screens, trays, ceramics, and more. The second section covers the activity of the atelier up to the present day as well. The book also addresses Barnaba's commitment to keeping the Fornasetti legacy alive by showing how Piero's ideas and models are "transformed, reworked, and contextualized." Today the Fornasetti atelier not only reissues historical pieces, but also "offers reinterpretations of themes and objects drawing inspiration from the vast repertory of the atelier's archive of lithographic plates, designs, notes, documents, and objects." Finally, the beautiful and comprehensive book includes a list of exhibitions and a register of the atelier's complete works.