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The guest room, Casa Fornasetti. In the foreground is the bedside I believe “small is beautiful,” even
cabinet “Sole,” 1950s, printed and lacquered by hand. This room
is characterized by its red color and contains several books with more so if it is also independent . . . Our
the word “red” in the title. Courtesy Fornasetti
company is a family by now, where the

dedication and sense of belonging are
truly incredible.

their collaboration lasted for many years. La follia pratica was the careful not to give into the temptations of the market, moving in
title of one of the calendars made by my father with Gio Ponti, a the opposite direction with respect to trends. I think that in the
depiction of bodies wrapped around and fused with objects. moment you are able to discern a trend, it is time to find another,
because the trend you can observe is already old.
AI: What was the key of interpretation of your father’s
work that allowed you to make his project yours as well, to in- AI: Fornasetti has made over 13,000 objects over the
terpret and extend it in such a coherent way? What was your years, a vast interpretation of an aesthetic applied to func-
relationship like? tion, still manufactured with fine craftsmanship. How do you
BF: When I was young my father and I often fought [he do it?
laughs]. He was egocentric and authoritarian. It was impossible BF: I believe “small is beautiful,” even more so if it is also in-
to work together. Like him, I, too, was a rebel. In his time, he had dependent. Today we have eighty people on the production staff,
rejected a bourgeois background, and he was accused of making guided by a foreman from Senegal who entered the company
pornography because he opened a store that displayed images thirty-five years ago as a janitor. When he was young, he man-
of nudes. I was swept along on the wave of the beat and hippie aged to learn all the secrets of the trade from the head of pro -
years, the protests of 1968, long hair. It became possible to work duction at the time, a man who worked with my father from the
together only later, after I had proven I could take care of myself, early years. Our company is a family by now, where the dedica-
working in other fields, from fashion to restoration. tion and sense of belonging are truly incredible. For everything
But the artistic value of his work, with all its various ver- besides our direct production, I like to work with experts in each
sions, fascinated me very much. So when he called asked me to sector, where the product is created by two counterparts. Today,
return, in the 1980s, because the company was having problems, for example, I would like to find a jewelry company interested in
I took it as a great honor. I knew that was my path. creating a line with our brand.

AI: Observing the success of the company today, it is AI: Fornasetti is a signature of excellence of Italian de-
clear that this was indeed the right path for you, but also that sign, recognized around the world. In which direction would
you were the right man for the company. What is the secret to you like to grow in the future?
your success on an entrepreneurial level? BF: The digital revolution has opened up enormous possibil-
BF: After my father passed away in 1988, the firm went ities, on a graphic level, for the composition of images, and this
through a very difficult period. It had a crisis, and I made some gives us the possibility of making projects that would have been
mistakes, trusting the wrong people, who tried to exploit my in- much more difficult in the past. In this perspective, we are work-
genuous nature. I’m not made to be a manager. I’m a creative per- ing to expand our activities of customization. The store in Milan
son. Luckily, I found some allies (one of whom is my partner to - will be the base for a division of the company that focuses on be-
day) who have helped me to get the company out of its economic spoke projects, from furniture to interiors, all the way to cruise
straits. From an entrepreneurial standpoint I have made the right ships, a field my father approached in the past with Gio Ponti, for
choices, sometimes by chance, but basically I have always been the Andrea Doria.

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