{"id":13449,"date":"2022-08-18T09:30:42","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T07:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=33846"},"modified":"2022-08-18T10:00:11","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T08:00:11","slug":"barnaba-fornasettis-elegant-milan-townhouse","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/barnaba-fornasettis-elegant-milan-townhouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Barnaba Fornasetti\u2019s elegant Milan townhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Ellie Tennant\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 18 August 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Nestled in a creative quarter of Milan\u2019s university district is Casa Fornasetti \u2013 a red-painted, stylish building that\u2019s home to Barnaba Fornasetti, son of the renowned designer Piero Fornasetti (1913-1988), painter, sculptor, interior decorator, engraver of books and creator of more than 11,000 products. This quiet corner of Milan has escaped insensitive development, much to Barnaba\u2019s relief. \u2018Buildings here are still low, with gardens,\u2019 he says. \u2018We have tree-lined avenues.\u2019<\/p>\n

Casa Fornasetti was built in the late 19th century by Barnaba\u2019s grandfather, Pietro Fornasetti, an early importer of typewriters. Barnaba\u2019s father, Piero, was born in the house and Barnaba grew up there, too, in the 1950s, before leaving home to study fine art, \u2018edit underground magazines\u2019 and \u2018renovate farmhouses\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018My childhood was quite lonely,\u2019 Barnaba recalls. \u2018I remember playing among the legs of my father\u2019s workmen in his Atelier when I was four or five, asking the painter to re-varnish my toy car. My mother was angry with me because I got my clothes dirty crawling on the floor of the studio.\u2019 Since then, the house and garden have changed a lot. \u2018There used to be two huge apricot trees as high as the house,\u2019 Barnaba says, wistfully. \u2018These days, my apricots have parasites, perhaps because of pollution.\u2019<\/p>\n

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When Barnaba was growing up, there was a private part of the house for the family and a working space dedicated to his father\u2019s prolific business. \u2018In the 1950s and 60s the Atelier took up almost all of the building. Then, from the end of the 1970s, the work space gradually decreased due to the decoration industry collapsing,\u2019 he recalls. Barnaba\u2019s father furnished the family\u2019s private part of the house with antiques. \u2018There were very few of his own objects and almost none of his furniture,\u2019 reveals Barnaba. \u2018Since I moved back here in the late 1980s, following my father\u2019s death, I have filled it with his furniture (and also mine), paintings, rugs and accessories.\u2019 It was in the 1980s, too, that the Fornasetti brand was relaunched by Themes and Variations Gallery in London, to great acclaim.<\/p>\n

The house is colourful, creative and eccentric \u2013 a celebration of all things Fornasetti. From the monochrome tiles in the bathroom to the Gerusalemme wallpaper (designed by Piero especially for the house), this is a living, breathing work of art. At the heart of it all is an enormous archive room, packed with plan chests and bulging binders containing Piero\u2019s vast archive of images from magazines, books and old prints.<\/p>\n

Some might find it hard to live in an installation, but Barnaba enjoys the process of renewal that comes with curating this living archive. \u2018It\u2019s something that helped me through the Covid-19 lockdown, actually,\u2019 he says. \u2018I had fun refining all the corners of the house. I feel a sense of responsibility to preserve this house and curate it but, as a collector of objects, I feel love for all the things in my home, too,\u2019 Barnaba says, warmly. It\u2019s important to Barnaba to share his father\u2019s aesthetic with others, so an apartment within the house is available for research students and \u2018cultural personalities\u2019 to stay in, so they can fully immerse themselves in the whimsical world of Fornasetti.<\/p>\n

Much of the best furniture in the house resulted from collaborations with Gi\u00f2 Ponti. \u2018My father and Ponti contributed to the success of Milanese design in the world and this gave birth, in a second movement, to the Salone del Mobile,\u2019 explains Barnaba. \u2018They advocated decorative and conceptual design as opposed to minimalist style.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Among the most important pieces in the collection is the \u2018Fagiolino\u2019 \u2013 a curved cabinet (named because of its bean shape) made of glass and wood, designed by Ponti. \u2018It was hand-painted by my father with gold and silver leaf for FontanaArte,\u2019 says Barnaba. \u2018It\u2019s unique.\u2019 Peppered among the Fornasetti items are stunning antiques, including a mid 19th-century Italian walnut armoire, one of Piero\u2019s finds, originally made for the Carabinieri a Cavallo (the horsemounted branch of the Italian armed forces) to hang their long capes.<\/p>\n

Barnaba has mastered the art of contrast and often pairs an antique piece with a modern creation for dramatic effect. For example, in the green sitting room, a 1960s Chesterfield sofa sits happily in front of a hexagonal 18th-century mirror. He\u2019s also a dab hand at display. Pretty Biedermeier-style Bohemian glasses arranged on glass shelves in front of a window catch the light and sparkle like jewels, while a narrow hallway is transformed into a gallery, plastered floor to ceiling with artworks.<\/p>\n

Barnaba\u2019s favourite antique in the house is a 17th-century still-life by Italian painter Paolo Antonio Barbieri. \u2018I like it because it\u2019s na\u00efve and surrealist at the same time and also vaguely \u2018Fornasettian\u2019,\u2019 he muses.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear Casa Fornasetti is still a work in progress. \u2018It\u2019s always changing,\u2019 agrees Barnaba. \u2018Many things get sent around the world to be exhibited. But we have a big warehouse and I always find something to use as a replacement.\u2019 Piero\u2019s legacy is in safe hands, thanks to his son, who has dedicated his life to ensuring Casa Fornasetti \u2013 and the brand \u2013 will be a vibrant celebration of design for generations to come.<\/p>\n