By Jennifer Quail
NEW YORK -- Artist Piero Fornasetti is said to have been the creator of more than 11,000 items, but there was one area that needed his signature adornment: rugs. Enter son Barnaba Fornasetti and Roubini Rugs, the high-end manufacturer of hand-knotted rugs, which just happens to specialize in designer collections.
Barnaba Fornasetti has carried on his father's design tradition via licenses, reviving the most popular pieces and creating new ones as well, with an eye to keeping with the handcrafted production that marked his father's work. Now, that eye has turned to rugs and to Roubini's designer touch.
Roubini described Piero Fornasetti as having "a strong imagination and an elegant and mystical sense of humor." The artist himself could be described as a Renaissance man—painter, sculptor, interior decorator and art book engraver, to name just a few of his accomplishments. The rugs in the Fornasetti Rug Collection were created to reflect the artists' whimsical nature and unique style. Hand-knotted in wool and silk, the designs focus on his primary themes, presenting each motif in the imaginative manner for which he was known. The Fornasetti line here also includes several tapestries.
The collection has been divided into three groups: Theme & Variations, which includes various views and expressions of the face, as well as representations of other areas of the body; Architectural Motifs, carried out via courtyards, polyhedrons and various interpretations of geometric forms; and Nature & Things, which depicts both earthly and heavenly entities in dreamlike and humorous settings. The rugs are available in several standard and customizable sizes.
Other items being produced by additional companies under license with Fornasetti include fashion accessories such as ties, scarves and umbrellas, and additional home furnishings, including china, furniture, lamps, fabrics and even radiators. Roubini Rugs also carries collections by Jamie Drake, Karim Rashid and Roberto Cavalli.