Wallpaper, thankfully, isn鈥檛 what it used to be. The days of the grandmotherly blue roses are gone. Many wallpaper designs are true works of art, or at least based on works of art. One of the leading inspirations for modern wallpaper is the work of Italy鈥檚 Piero Fornasetti, who was also a great artisan, furniture and interior designer and sculptor.
Fornasetti was born in Milan in 1913, and went on to a distinguished art career. He was one of the artists who designed the interior of the ill-fated Andrea Doria. His career flourished till his untimely and unexpected death in 1988.
The wallpapers takes Fornasetti鈥檚 themes and updates them for the 21st century. One motif is the face of a large eyed Victorian beauty. In his Tema e Variazioni wallpapers, which sells for $3.60 per square foot, this face is seen in circles on a purple, pale gray or cream colored background. She鈥檚 the face of the moon, or shown sipping from a bowl, or part of a streetscape. Sometimes only her eye is seen, sometimes just the lower part of her face is seen and her neck is adorned by a heavy necklace.
Another wallpaper that ties into Fornasetti鈥檚 interest in themes and variations is the Peonie series. These show bouquets of what look like peonies and feathers, again against subtly different backgrounds. Depending on the background, some of the flowers are different colors. In Peonie -3009 some are shades of brown, in 3011, some are shades of red and hot pink, in 3010 they鈥檙e pink and deep mauve, in 3008, mauve and green. The Peonie series comes in 55 square feet rolls and sells for $3.85 dollars a square foot, so its total cost is $212.00 per roll.
Another series is the Il Sole series. Viesso has three versions of this wallpaper, which features Fornasetti鈥檚 sun, with its dignified face and sea anemone-like rays. The sun is presented as a disk of several sizes, some superimposed on each other. In Il Sole 9032 and 9033, the image of the sun is presented as a sort of photographic negative. This wallpaper series is $4.55 per square foot and like the others, comes in a roll of 55 usable square feet.
Another Fornasetti series is Ex Libris, which shows books in a bookcase. There are two versions of Ex Libris, one which shows smaller books in a shelf next to taller books, and another which shows taller books, some of which lean on each other, beside a compartment of even taller books. The books鈥?bindings are in different colors, from a sort of gold-gray with magenta accents, to silver with gold accents, to silver with brown accents. This wallpaper costs $4.87 per square foot.
The last series offered at Viesso is Corallo, a series that looks like images of trees or coral, or the patterns found in moss agate. Given the name, the delicate frond are probably coral. This wallpaper costs the same as Ex Libris. A stand alone wallpaper in the collection is Mediterranea, a playful depiction of what looks like an Italian city. This wallpaper is noticeable for the way the beige, onion domed roofs of a few of the buildings stand out against the tan and black design. This wallpaper costs the same as Tema e Variazioni. For your Fornasetti wallpaper be sure to check out Viesso today!
