“Conversation pieces”. What all of the new objects – rugs, ceramic cats, coffee tables, cabinets and trays of various sizes – have in common is the unmistakeable visionary style of Fornasetti. With their timeless aesthetic, they depict images drawn from our collective imagination.

The new Fornasetti rug collection will be on display during Milan Design Week, from 8th to 14th April, at the Fornasetti Store in Milan.The rugs express “colours and geometries and that encyclopaedic variety that characterises the Fornasetti visual language”, as says Barnaba Fornasetti, the Artistic Director, guardian of the legacy of his father Piero, an eclectic and multifaceted artist, who was one of the most original and creative talents of the twentieth century. Father and son are united by a boundless imagination that transcends the limits of the mundane, and an almost magical ability to apply it to everyday items, transforming an ordinary object into multiple works of art.

The diversity of decorations echoes the plurality of the Fornasetti universe itself. A mixture of classical and contemporary themes, along with a vision unbound by eras or dates, have given life to eleven extraordinary carpets, imaginary sculptures that through the use of precious wools and silks become tactile images, sensory surfaces imbued with an ironic and dreamlike quality.Direct references to the classical world reveal that taste for experiencing, discovering and inspiring dreams that represent its unmistakable style. Oneiric landscapes, architectural artifices and motifs from nature confirm the extent of its eclecticism.

The new collection is made according to the ancient production techniques of Tai Ping, a historical atelier that has been creating precious carpets using the age-old method of hand tufting since 1956. With this traditional approach, the rug comes takes about three months to make, through a process comparable to that of a manually-guided sewing machine. The master tufter expertly selects a combination of wool and silk threads to create different shades or full colours, and guides them, via a mechanical needle, from the back of the rug to the front. Through the final cutting of the wool, which creates different heights and effects, the decoration finally reveals that special definition and texture that only tufting can achieve. Meticulous control over every single phase of the production cycle, from the finishing of the raw materials to the use of precious New Zealand wool and Chinese silks, from colouring to finishing, ensures every single product is unique and of the highest quality.

From April 3 to May 12, 2019, at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, located on via Manzoni 12 in Milan the “Anj Smith. The Mountain of the Muse” exhibition will feature some works resulting from the exclusive collaboration with Fornasetti. It includes works by Anj Smith together with her personal reinterpretation of some of Fornasetti’s objects (three plates, two vases and a trumeau).

Over the course of its history, Fornasetti has created a bona fide visual language, unique in its refined artistic lines, characterised by humour, nostalgia, metaphor and allusions. Founded in Milan in the Fifties, Fornasetti is an atelier that is internationally renowned for the design and decoration of finely crafted furnishing objects. Precious porcelain, sophisticated pieces of furniture and accessories form the heart of the incredible variety of its output, which spans art and design.