Coles e Fornasetti - ‘Il mio segreto è l'immaginazione’ (‘My secret is the imagination’) Piero Fornasetti
Back to Creation with a good looking Italian and a collection of wallpapers - Adam and Eve, created by Piero Fornasetti in 1954 and Hydrangea from Fornasetti’s garden or even the Garden of Eden, an exquisite original drawing discovered in the Fornasetti archives and adapted as large scale wallpaper by Karen Beauchamp, Creative Director of Coles.
These Fornasetti wallpapers are hand screenprinted by Coles. With Fornasetti nothing is ever quite as it seems - the classically inspired figures of Adam and Eve are seen through a screen of colour in which twelve fretwork circles provide an intriguing ‘trompe l’oeil’ view of the figures. The effect is typical of Fornasetti’s bizarre and humorous style, inspired by his skilful drawings from nature and classical sources.
The figure of Adam finely drawn by Fornasetti is in black on white and gold against a wine red ground, a colour he favoured, while Eve, the serpent coiled at her feet, is in black, white and gold on an ink black ground. Hydrangea is in two colourways – black and white on an opulent gold ground or black and gold on a pure cerulean sky blue. All wallpapers bear the distinctive Fornasetti signature.
From the 1930s Piero Fornasetti brought his surreal imagination to interiors through an accomplished skill as an artist and craftsman. He approached design in unconventional and unexpected ways finding inspiration in the classical traditions of Italian art and architecture surrounding him in Milan. It is also said that he introduced ‘haute couture’ into interior design.
Piero’s son Barnaba who inherited the mantle of the company after Piero’s death in 1988 is passionate about continuing its tradition: 'I am delighted by our collaboration with Cole and Son and believe they are the perfect company to interpret Fornasetti's decorative works. The great quality of performance, fine printing and craft techniques, care for research and the perpetuating of tradition at the same time as developing innovative style are in perfect tune with the Fornasetti spirit'.
The wallpapers play on a theme of Creation – an allegory perhaps for design and craftsmanship uniting two historic companies. The figures of Adam and Eve are an impressive 1.6 metres high with 3 metres of plain background between each image to position as wished. The repeat of Hydrangea is 1.5 metres.
Piero Fornasetti was born in 1913 in Milan and became an eclectic painter, sculptor, interior designer, craftsman, engraver of art books and organizer of international exhibitions and events. Believing strongly in disegno – the practice of sketching and copying – as the legacy of the Italian artistic tradition, his unique style shows a strong sense of irony. He worked independently of the avant-garde and his production of exquisitely made objects, textiles and furniture, some of which are in the V&A Museum, is one of the largest of the 20th century.