The Italian design brand’s art pieces featuring that recognisable muse are iconic, having featured in stylish interiors, both public and private, for decades.
It has meant many of us have gazed upon the surreal and whimsical decorative porcelain plates, candles, cushions and furniture highlighting one woman’s face and wondered, who is she, really?
Her name is Lina Cavalieri, and she was a Italian opera singer and actress born in 1874, and popular around the turn of the century.
Cavalieri was perhaps one of the first beauty influencers, known for her performance talent, but also her appearance, and a love of beauty. After retiring from the stage, Cavalieri ran a cosmetic salon in Paris, had her own perfume called “Mona Lina” (a play on that very famous painting), and also wrote a beauty advice column and book. She died in 1944, aged 69, when a World War II bombing destroyed her home in Florence.
Fornasetti’s founder, Piero Fornasetti was the one who amplified her visage so famously.
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Five things to know about that famous design:
Lina Cavalieri as the Muse
The story goes that Fornasetti’s founder, Piero Fornasetti a Milanese painter, sculptor, and designer, learned of Cavalieri while flipping through a 19th-century magazine in the early 1950s. Fascinated by her, he considered her features to be the epitome of classical beauty and made her the central figure in his famous “Tema e Variazioni” (Theme and Variations) series, among his most famous creations.
There are over 350 ‘Variations’
Fornasetti created more than 350 different designs based on Cavalieri’s face.
A surreal and playful approach
The variations on her face are often whimsical, mysterious, or humorous, reflecting Fornasetti’s love of surrealism and illusion. Some versions have her face partially obscured, while others morph her features into everyday objects. other have included a monocle, a moustache, veiled, or even turned into a moon.
Art, beauty and decor
The “Tema e Variazioni” designs became one of Fornasetti’s most recognisable motifs and the house, now run by the founder’s son, Barnaba Fornasetti, has extended their use, appearing on ceramics, pieces of furniture, wallpapers, and home accessories. A fragrance line, with perfume and candles is also part of the collection.
According to WWD, at Milan Design Week in April 2025 the next extension of “Tema e Variazioni” will be revealed. It will include wall and desk clocks and a new set of eight plates adorned with Cavalieri’s soulful gaze.
Handmade collectables
A signature part of the design house now based in Milan, is that all objects are made in Italy, strictly by hand, upholding a tradition of expert craftsmanship that makes each piece a true ‘multiple of art’.
