Piero Fornasetti

The Collection of Hjalmar Olson (1902-1990), Gustavsberg. Acquired from Estrid Ericson, Svenskt Tenn, Stockholm.
Hjalmar Olson was president of Gustavsberg Porcelain Factory 1937-1968, and a Vice Chairman of LKAB 1962-1973. He was elected in 1942 as a member of the Academy of Engineering Sciences, where he was 2nd Vice Chairman from 1954 to 1956, and was appointed as the first honorary member in 1963. He received his degree in 1962 honorary doctor of technology at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
As an engineer he studied modern porcelain industry in Germany. This took him to Gustavsberg porcelain factory already in 1929.
With his great interest in art and craft, he built up a private collection where quality was always of utmost importance. With help from close friends like Estrid Ericson, owner of Svenskt Tenn, he created his collection during the middle of the mid 1900's.

Patrick Mauriès, 'Fornasetti, designer of dreams', Thames and Hudson 1998, compare the interior of the Varenna villa bathrom with floral decoration by Fornasetti, p 260.

Piero Fornasetti was an artist, sculptor, interior designer, and engraver from Milan. DUring his career, Fornasetti created a visual language which is immediately recognisable. The artist studied at Brera Art Academy but got expelled for missbehaviours. Fornasetti created more than 11 000 artworks, many with the soap opera star Lina Cavalieris face on. Several reoccurring themes included his interpratations of symbols, such as the sun and time, in black and white. His style is reminicent of Greek and Roman architecture, a time in which he was greatly influenced by.