Color Trends/ Soft Hues

Photography: Studio Marcus Hay, Inc

At Studio Marcus Hay, Inc we love being handy with our Instagram and capturing the world around us, On recent trips and even at home we are constantly amazed by the combo of colors and how they resonate with each other. We have discovered a love of pinks, tan, browns and grays as a combo and found two complimentary images this month that speak to this. Marcus has an amazing collection of plates that line the walls of his kitchen and we found inspiration in this shot of these which include Rosenthal and Fornasetti plates. In San Francisco at a favourite hangout called The Mill, there is currently an exhibition of beautiful paintings by artist Gayle Walsworth called Nights of Love, The colors are so beautiful in these paintings. We hope you are inspired.

Inspiring Icons/ Piero Fornasetti

Right: Portrait of Fornasetti, Left: Screen Design

Right: Portrait of Fornasetti, c/o Rizzoli.com, Left: The mark of Fornasetti

Right, Bookends, Left: Cabinet Design, Current  Fornasetti products

Various current  Fornasetti products

Various Designs using lip motif

Right: Fornasetti Plates, Photo by Graham Moss, Left: Cabinet Design

A man of many cabinets, Cabinet Designs

Right: Ice bucket Design, Left: Stationary Holder Design

Right: Cabinet Design with Sun Motif, Left: Screen Design

Fornasetti at Home,  Photo: www.fornasetti.com

Fornasetti at Home,  Photo: www.fornasetti.com

Fornasetti at Home,  Photo: www.fornasetti.com

Right: At Home, Left: Detail Inside the Studio, Photo: www.fornasetti.com

Inside the Studio, Photo: www.fornasetti.com

Left: Cabinet design, Right: Inside the Studio, Photo: www.fornasetti.com

One of my favorite designers of all time, Piero Fornasetti’s volume of work is so extensive it blows my mind, Largely known for his work on Tema e Variazioni plates, His work is just so much more than these wonderful plates.

Piero Fornasetti lived and worked in Milan, Italy and was known as a painter, sculptor, interior decorator, engraver of books and a creator of more than 11,000 products. In fact in terms of variety of decoration, Fornasetti’s production of objects and furniture is one of the largest of the 20th century.

Fornasetti is celebrated as being among the most original creative talents of the twentieth century. During his career he created a visual vocabulary that is instantly recognisable and unceasingly engaging. Fornasetti designed a magical world, saturated in image and color and filled with whimsy and wit.

An amazing website with a interactive feel, www.fornasetti.com is feast for the eyes, Many of these images on this post are from this site, One set of images I love in particular is the tour of his house, where you get to scan across and see wide format images that capture every detail including Fornasetti himself interacting with the space, His house can be found in the Città Studi area of Milan, I would love to visit it today, I wonder if it is still intact? There is no better, certainly no richer, example of the Fornasetti aesthetic.

Fornasetti’s son, Barnaba, is perpetuating the Fornasetti tradition by continuing to produce, and revive, Fornasetti designs. My hat is off to him, I just love seeing the original and the interpretations, The spirit of Fornasetti must be kept alive. 

Most of the images are from my folder in my Furniture I love folder on  Pintrest, Unfortunately I can't find evidence of who photographed these images, Any person needing credit please be in touch for me to include your credit if desired. 

Vintage find/ Bitossi Cat

With a recent work trip to Chicago, In one of the antique malls while prepping for a shoot, I discovered a piece quite cheaply. I knew that it was probably part of the Bitossi ceramics range, of which I have a few pieces, It is a figurine of a cat, Although I have seen many cats like it, It is a silhouette I have not come across before. It’s a great piece and it now sits proudly with my other blue ceramic birds, a happy cat indeed!

Bitossi (now also known as Flavia) is an Italian ceramics company that has been producing ceramics since the 1920’s, It is still manufacturing today and available through their website.

Many of us would recognize the distinctive look of Bitossi largely with it “Rimini Blu” range in particular (Blue in color) that many of us grew up with by Aldo Londi, It has a very distinct 1960’s/ 70’s look, Often a little rough with a raw quality, their pieces have a very hand made feel. Guido Bitossi founded “Manifattura Cavaliere Bitossi e Figlia” (Manufacturer Sir Bitossi and Sons) in 1921 in Montelupo Fiorentino, an area of Florence. I have not been to the factory, but definitely plan to on my next trip.

Many famous artists have collaborated with Bitossi, A favorite of mine, Piero Fornasetti (Check out another post of his work on this site) Ettore Sottsass, known largely for helping to set up the “Memphis” movement of the 1980’s and Karim Rashid amongst others.

Thanks to Michele at Elephant Props www.elephantprops.com for allowing me to photograph some of her range, a fellow Bitossi admirer.

In these shots you can see a variety of shots including a George Nelson Side Drink Meridian Tables from the 1950’s, pieces as mentioned from Elephant and pieces from the website directly.

You can check out Bitossi’s website at www.bitossiceramiche.it, It is a great site with lots of images or The current catalog for "Bitossi By Flavia" is available at http://www.shopstyle.com/browse/Bitossi.

Market Find/ Fornasetti

A big part of my inspiration and love of objects comes from Flea Markets, Most Stylists would agree that they prove to be a valuable resource, I often find that purchases can be a bit random though, Murphy’s law would have it that if you are looking for something for a particular story/ job in mind you often won’t find it that week, but go back the next after you needed it and the market will be teeming with that particular prop you needed, that’s why even if a little hard on the wallet at times, I try to pick up things as I see them, I like to put them in my back pocket for safe keeping, Often as a Stylist you will do “test” images to try and produce a body of work that is personal or speaks to the viewer, something about your particular take or aesthetic, Often these market finds can be the springboard for those tests.

This week I was lucky enough to stumble across a Fornasetti plate, Piero Fornasetti, most would be familiar with as the designer who lived and worked in Milan from 1935-1988, His style was based on illusionism, architectural perspectives and a host of personal motifs.

This plate is from the a plate and tea set that was inspired by his fascination of musical instruments, Musical instruments, a popular motif since the Renaissance in Art is a theme that he too picked up on and applied to many objects in his body of work including chairs, ashtrays, cupboards, glasses, He was an amazingly versatile designer whose body of work is astounding, While I love the theme of musical instruments, His other themes such as sun, hot air balloons, books, umbrellas, pipes, locks & keys, architecture, playing cards all hold a fascination for me, These everyday objects are used with such a sophisticated application, yet they still seem whimsical and slightly surreal.

His most famous work is probably 'Themes and Variations', a series of plates with faces of the beautiful Italian singer, Lina Cavalieri. These strange and fascinating objects include her face interspersed with a sun and a clock face and surrounded by a hot-air balloon. They are highly sought after by collectors.

I feel very lucky to have found this plate and I think it may cement an interest in collecting further vintage Fornasetti, stay posted!

I have owned a book for some time called “Fornasetti, Designer of Dreams” by Patrick Mauries, It is published by Thames and Hudson, 1991, Reprinted 2006
http://www.amazon.com/Fornasetti-Designer-Dreams-Piero/dp/0500280517

Read more: http://historicalbiographies.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_great_fornasetti#ixzz0UxzibuQM

http://ifitshipitshere.blogspot.com/2008/04/fabulous-fun-for-fornasetti-fanatics.html

Tip: Barneys and Moss in NYC have a great collection of newly released Fornasetti
www.Barneys.com, www.mossonline.com