From snake-clad scarves to cabinets mimicking buildings, Fornasetti has been producing weirdly wonderful designer items - from furniture to interior décor, ceramics and fashion accessories - for over 80 years.
Founded and still based in Milan, the eponymously named studio was created by Italian artist and designer Piero Fornasetti.
Born in 1913 as the first born of a wealthy Milanese family, he was expected to follow in his father's footsteps, but, never being one to stick to the rules, the young Fornasetti shunned the world of finance and trade and shocked his family by declaring he wanted to attend art school.Despite the fact that he went on to become one of the most prolific decorative artists of the 20th century, Fornasetti's foray into formal training didn't last long. The rebellious student was expelled from Milan's Brera Academy for "insubordination" after two years, largely due to his outrage that the students wouldn't be drawing nudes.
This was by no means the hormones of a young man speaking out, but rather the mind of a future world-famous designer. He was later quoted as saying: "To learn to be a good designer, one must study figure drawing first. Once you know how to draw the nude body, you can also design a building, or the motor of a car. Anything."After leaving Brera in 1932, Fornasetti set to work in a studio his parents built for him in their home. Apart from a draft-avoiding stint in Switzerland during World War 2, he would work from this studio for the rest of his life.
By the late '40s, Fornasetti had become recognised not only for his witty and wacky illustrations but also for his obsession with techniques.
Whatever medium he worked in - ceramics, silk or metal - he would fastidiously research the necessary tools and skills and become closely involved with the artisans who created his products.
During his career as a painter, printer, designer, collector, craftsman and gallerist, Fornasetti conceived and built approximately 13,000 objects, and the dream-like magical world of his imagination was transposed onto everything from ashtrays to chairs, plates, furniture and scarves.
So original was his work that Fornasetti rebelled against the concept of numbering, dating and signing his work, as he was adamant his style was unmistakable.Possibly one of his most famous works is the "Theme and Variation" series, in which he painted nearly 400 variations of the same portrait onto ceramic plates.
The subject was 19th-century Italian film star and soprano Lina Cavalieri, known in her time as the "most beautiful woman in the world".
Each plate shows a whimsical version of her face - winking, peering through a keyhole, sporting a moustache, floating in a hot-air balloon and many other scenarios.
When asked what inspired him to create so many variations on the face of one woman, he replied: "I don't know. I began to make them and I never stopped."
He never stopped designing, painting or collecting either and, when he died in 1988, his son, Barnaba Fornasetti, took over the family business.
In an ode to its founder, Fornasetti is still going strong and constantly releasing the wacky creations we've come to expect of the brand.
• Fornasetti's Don Giovanni collection launched in Milan this month...