The Home of Barnaba Fornasetti

Guess what? I got my first Fornasetti plate for Christmas!!  I may or may not be a little too excited about the birth of this collection as noted on my wish list (is it a true collection when you predetermine what is to be collected and then request your loved ones to gift the said collection items to you?).  It’s this face – and I am in love.  Leave it to my mama to give me the one tied up in ribbon to commemorate the first of my series  Photo of it hanging on my wall to come (as soon as I get a plate hanger).

While at home, I spent a lot of time sleeping or napping and reading.  After I finished The American Heiress (amazing read – thank you Bradley for the recommendation!) I moved on to magazines.  My mom’s house gets a fair amount of subscriptions and I hit up the ELLE Decor January ’12/February ’13 issue since I no longer get it in the mail (they went to waste as I never found the time to read them… tear).  Anyway, the Jan/Feb issue was exceptional.  Mainly because of the cover feature on Barnaba Fornasetti’s home in Milan.

As the head of his late father’s design firm, Barnaba clearly lives his life fully immersed in the brand… Surrounding every room with the company’s furniture, fixtures, objects, and even wallpaper.  I love his quote from the feature that, “It’s a house that almost overwhelms you,” he says, “but I’m so used to it that I couldn’t live any other way.”  I’m not sure I could feel grounded or comfortable in a home with such dizzying and powerful graphics, but the blend neoclassical and surrealism from floor to ceiling definitely makes an enormous impact.  His home almost has a museum-like quality to it.  

In any case, I loved seeing how he arranged and displayed the Fornasetti creations, and I think my plate collection will add a humorous punch to black and white pallet I have been implementing in my room…

(Images via Elle Decor)