The mad world of Stefano Seletti
Inside the head – and home – of the Italian designer who turns plastic plates into high-end crockery, created the famous monkey lamp and turns his irreverent eye to all aspects of homeware.
On my coffee table is a book about Piero Fornasetti called Practical Madness. A visionary designer whose creations were both surreal and playful, his philosophy fused his surreal imaginings with practical, everyday objects. Who doesn’t recognise the woman from his plates, winking, or the elaborate découpage umbrella stands and furniture?
Fornasetti, whose house I visited a few years ago (paid subscribers can read about it here), died in 1988. His son Barnaba still lives in the family home and continues his father’s work. But there’s a sense of legacy rather than invention about it these days. And it’s ear-bleedingly expensive. And I mean that almost literally; the price of a desk is £29,000. And yes, I have got all my commas and zeros in the right place, thank you.
Cut to: London, Selfridges basement summer 2025.
I’m sitting at a brightly coloured coffee table in a space that has been decorated to look like a (very chic) supermarket. Opposite me is Stefano Seletti. We have wandered around the display together while he points out the white porcelain crockery modelled to resemble the plastic plates used by every Italian household for parties, and the lamps created to look like circus tents with strong men holding them up so the light can escape. It’s all a bit mad. But it is, also, very practical.
Does this make Stefano Seletti the heir to Piero Fornasetti? He blushes and is clearly flattered, but I suspect this is not the first time the thought has occurred to him.
