Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Barnaba Fornasetti's Unique Pieces




Celebrating its 160th anniversary, Hong Kong department store Lane Crawford invited eight well-known designers, including Italian designer Barnaba Fornasetti, to redesign the Chinese ming style chair for a recent exhibition at IFC mall.  This gorgeous chair was his genius take. If I could get my hands on it, I would be very happy! I would pretend to be a queen (of the owl-land, may be?) who owns this master piece and promises to give this chair a very special spot in my humble study. If only it was mine. Would you want this?

Back to the chair. The LC Insider on Fornasetti's one-of-a-kind piece -"Applying Fornasetti’s neoclassical, collaged, and surreal style to the Ming Chair, the design blurs the line between classics and modern art, and at the same time, highlights the essence of both the Chinese and Western cultures. The distinctive and unique shape of the Ming Chair allows Fornasetti to get creative with lavish whimsical imagery, such as owls perch on the seat-back, a pair of buttocks cheekily rest on the seat, a sun radiates on the back, and butterflies all over the chair. The application of the meticulous trompe l’oeil technique further animates the chair to create a new identity, transforming something that belongs to a different  culture into “something Fornasetti” without conflict."



Another beauty that I found by Barnaba is this custom made piano. I can't stop wondering who bought this gem? But who ever owns it is surely having good times with that owl while they play their favorite notes.

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