Every Cole & Son Fornasetti wallpaper started life somewhere else: on a silk scarf, a tray, a folding screen or the walls of Piero Fornasetti's own home. This post tells that story, of the artist, his Milanese atelier and how Cole & Son brings his archive onto the wall. (If you're after a guide to the individual designs, we cover those in a separate post.)
Piero Fornasetti, the collector
To understand Fornasetti's work, start with what he surrounded himself with. He was the consummate collector, and cameos formed part of his vast collection of curiosities, an homage to Classicism that he returned to on teacups, ceramics, trays and screens. He was an avid collector of volumes on the applied arts, and books recur throughout the atelier's archive.
His house was eclectic, brimming with umbrella and hat stands full of antique walking canes. Those canes became the Bastoni Wallpaper, which began as a 1940s silk scarf print. He also had a deep love of music and theatre, finding a wealth of inspiration in the Italian Commedia dell'arte; from this came Teatro, conceived in the 1950s.
An atelier that decorated everything
The Milanese atelier applied its imagery to almost any surface. Fish appear in some of Fornasetti's earliest work, from silk scarves to trays and decorative porcelain. Owls appear on numerous accessories and porcelain pieces. Monkeys were originally conceived as striking wooden panels for the Milanese patisserie Dulciora. And the citrus of the Arance Wallpaper first appeared on the tray 'Fette d'arancia' in the 1950s.
Screens were a favourite canvas. Fornasetti first used the Geometrico motif in 1954 to decorate his Geometrico screen, and the trompe-l'oeil library of the Ex Libris Wallpaper is adapted from a 1953 Fornasetti screen. Even an ice bucket, 'Oggetti Cocktail', became the source of a design.
Designs born in his own homes
Some of the most personal motifs were made for the spaces Fornasetti lived in. The Mediterranea Wallpaper, a sprawling cityscape of roofs, domes and windows, was originally conceived in the late 1940s for the entrance hall of his Milan home.
At his Lake Como villa, he covered the dining room walls in shells, a mid-century take on a 16th-century grotto, complete with a delicate shell ceiling lamp made by his wife, Giulia. That motif lives on in the Conchiglie Wallpaper.
Infinite variations
A principle runs through much of Piero Fornasetti's work: every image is a source of inspiration that may lead to infinite variations. Fruit has been among his themes since the 1940s, and the Cocktails Wallpaper shows his fascination with repeated studies of the same subject.
The atelier has kept that idea alive. Barnaba Fornasetti repurposed the orange motif in the 1990s as a graphic fabric print, and in Foglie e Scimmie the atelier's monkeys emerge, for the first time, from the dense foliage of Chiavi Segrete. Old motifs keep meeting in new combinations.
From screen and etching to wallpaper
This is where Cole & Son comes in: translating objects into wallcoverings while keeping the Fornasetti character. The Uccelli Wallpaper began as luxurious Fornasetti folding screens of vibrantly coloured birds; on the wall it becomes a decorative panel 104cm wide by 240cm high, or an aviary when used in repeat. Cocktails comes in a Multi palette true to the original sketches.
Cole & Son also adds its own touch. The Nuvole Al Tramonto Wallpaper is created from an atmospheric etching of clouds, one of Fornasetti's most beloved designs, and Cole & Son has updated its billowing clouds with an ombré that captures the colour and light of an ever-changing sky.
Knowing where a design came from makes choosing one more personal: a book lover may lean towards the library scenes, a cook towards the citrus. Browse our Fornasetti collection, or visit the shop in Somerset or contact the team for advice.
