The brainchild of the Fratelli Gugliermetto company, Gufram was born in 1966 in Turin, Italy, massively inspired by the avant-garde artistic culture that reigned in Europe during the 1960s and '70s. The brand is known for its CACTUS coat stand and sculptural seating such as the Pratone chair as well as other massive, innovative pieces that fall somewhere between art and furniture.
Starting in the mid-1960s, proponents of Italian Radical Design — which included forward-looking collectives like Archizoom and Studio 65 — broke with formality and convention by fusing the joy of Pop art with the systems of mass production.
One of the brands that formed as a result of these experiments was Gufram, a manufacturer at the forefront of the country’s Radical Design movement. The Gugliermetto brothers teamed up with emerging artists to harness exciting new materials — among them, polyurethane foam, which was originally used in the transportation industry as insulation to keep buses and trains warm.
Despite being credited for revolutionizing Italian design, until the mid-1970s, Gufram was largely unknown outside the small Italian town where it was founded. Nearly six years after the brand’s inception, though, word got out about a furniture brand transforming polyurethane foam into gigantic works of art. So, Gufram brought its playful and witty design concept across the Atlantic to New York’s Museum of Modern Art, where it had its first international show.
Gufram produced much of the Pop furniture — the CACTUS coat rack by Guido Drocco and Franco Mello and the Bocca sofa, in the shape of big red lips, by Studio 65 — that came to define the Anti-Design movement. (Through a relationship with Gufram, the latter was imported to the United States by Charles Stendig, a collector and pioneering importer who helped spark America’s interest in furniture from Finland, Switzerland and Italy during the 1960s and ‘70s.)
Although furniture can be serious business, it’s just as often playful, provocative, energizing and even liberating. Perhaps nothing embodies these characteristics better than postmodern Italian design. And one of the most iconic pieces to originate during Italy’s fertile period of postmodern furniture design is the Pratone chair, designed in 1971 by Giorgio Ceretti, Piero Derossi and Riccardo Rosso.
Representing a magnified portion of a grassy meadow, the Pratone chaise provides a lounging place for an individual or a group. “It is so unlike anything else that it stands out and is still iconic after 50 years,” said Charley Vezza, Gufram’s global creative orchestrator.
Made of painted polyurethane foam, the Pratone chair immediately became the symbol of a new and different approach to interiors when it debuted.
Gufram has become a favorite of the international art crowd and glitterati, and its products have made their way to the world’s most renowned museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vitra Design Museum and more.
British fashion designer Paul Smith and American multi-hyphenate artist A$AP Rocky have collaborated with Gufram over the years. Interior designer Tony Ingrao has called the Pratone chair one of his favorite works and featured the larger-than-life piece in an exhibition he curated at R & Company in 2016.
Find new and vintage Gufram chairs, sofas, mirrors and other Gufram furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
$320 / item
Guframini Pratone
By Gufram Furniture
Located in Milan, IT
Gufram icons have become smaller and have turned into Guframinis! Designed in a 1:8 scale the new miniatures perfectly reproduce the famous original sculptures. Each "mini" creation ...
Resin
Rare 1986 Limited Edition Gufram Multipli Cactus, Signed & Numbered 1257 of 2000
By Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, Gufram Furniture
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A rare and highly collectible limited edition Gufram 'Cactus' coat / hat rack sculpture designed by Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, part of the legendary Italian Radical Design and Po...
Polystyrene
$345 / item
Guframini Cactus
By Gufram Furniture
Located in Milan, IT
Gufram icons have become smaller and have turned into Guframinis! Designed in a 1:8 scale the new miniatures perfectly reproduce the famous original sculptures. Each "mini" creation ...
Resin
Gufram Cactus Rosso CoatRacks Sculpture By Drocco/Mello, Limited Edition of 500
By Gufram Furniture
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
Born in 1972, the Cactus Coat Rack has questioned the static and rigid world of interior design since its inception, revolutionizing the traditional f...
Other
$280 / item
Guframini Bocca
By Gufram Furniture
Located in Milan, IT
Gufram icons have become smaller and have turned into Guframinis! Designed in a 1:8 scale the new miniatures perfectly reproduce the famous original sculptures. Each "mini" creation ...
Resin
Andy’s Cactus Yellow Coat Racks Sculpture by Andy Warhol x Gufram
By Gufram Furniture, Andy Warhol
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
Gufram presents new limited editions of its iconic CACTUS® in collaboration with The Andy Warhol Foundation of Visual Arts —— ANDY’S CACTUS® as its debut worldwide. The new version is still made of polyurethane, molded from the original 1972 version, and then hand-carved by professional artisans, each piece is unique. The results are ANDY’S BLUE CACTUS...
Other
Andy’s Cactus Pink Coat Racks Sculpture by Andy Warhol x Gufram
By Gufram Furniture, Andy Warhol
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
Gufram presents new limited editions of its iconic CACTUS® in collaboration with The Andy Warhol Foundation of Visual Arts —— ANDY’S CACTUS® as its debut worldwide. The new version is still made of polyurethane, molded from the original 1972 version, and then hand-carved by professional artisans, each piece is unique. The results are ANDY’S BLUE CACTUS...
Other
Another Green Cactus, Coat Stand / Sculpture by Drocco / Mello for Gufram
By Gufram Furniture
Located in Dubai, AE
The subject of several, free and often ambiguous interpretations, Cactus is the icon of Italian design that has revolutionized the domestic landscape, by subverting the borders betwe...
Other
GUFRAM Cactus Infrared Sculptural Coatrack by Drocco & Mello
By Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, Gufram Furniture
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Cactus: The Invisible Spectrum is a collection by Gufram that features three unique and surprising Cactus inspiried by the optical wavelenght range. Gufram makes exceptionally visibl...
Other
GUFRAM Cactus Ultraviolet Sculptural Coatrack by Drocco & Mello
By Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, Gufram Furniture
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Cactus: The Invisible Spectrum is a collection by Gufram that features three unique and surprising Cactus inspiried by the optical wavelenght range. Gufram makes exceptionally visibl...
Other
GUFRAM Cactus Gammablue Sculptural Coatrack by Drocco & Mello
By Gufram Furniture, Guido Drocco and Franco Mello
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Cactus: The Invisible Spectrum is a collection by Gufram that features three unique and surprising Cactus inspiried by the optical wavelenght range. Gufram makes exceptionally visibl...
Other
$2,800 / item
Gufram Sassi Pouf by Piero Gilardi
By Gufram Furniture, Piero Gilardi
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
Beginning in 1968, Piero Gilardi adhered to the new artistic trends of this period, such as Arte Povera, Land Art, Antiform Art, and participated in several international critiques o...
Foam
Another White Cactus - Coat Stand / Sculpture by Drocco/Mello for Gufram
By Gufram Furniture
Located in Dubai, AE
The subject of several, free and often ambiguous interpretations, Cactus is the icon of Italian design that has revolutionized the domestic landscape, by subverting the borders betwe...
Other
GUFRAM Another Green Cactus Sculptural Coatrack by Drocco & Mello
By Gufram Furniture, Guido Drocco and Franco Mello
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Cactus is the icon of Italian design that has revolutionized the domestic landscape. Made of flexible polyurethane this hall tree with four cantilever arms is as tall as a person and...
Other
$555 / item
Guframini God
By Gufram Furniture
Located in Milan, IT
Gufram icons have become smaller and have turned into Guframinis! Designed in a 1:8 scale the new miniatures perfectly reproduce the famous original sculptures. Each "mini" creation ...
Resin
GUFRAM Sunrise Cactus by Drocco & Mello - Paul Smith limited edition 1/169
By Gufram Furniture, Paul Smith, Guido Drocco and Franco Mello
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Gufram and Paul Smith renew their collaboration to present the SUNRISE CACTUS®, a bold new interpretation of the iconic piece originally designed by Guido Drocco and Franco Mello in ...
Other
GUFRAM Another White Cactus Sculptural Coatrack by Drocco & Mello
By Gufram Furniture, Guido Drocco and Franco Mello
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Cactus is the icon of Italian design that has revolutionized the domestic landscape. Made of flexible polyurethane this hall tree with four cantilever arms is as tall as a person and...
Other
$10,200 / item
GUFRAM Nerocactus Sculptural Coatrack by Drocco & Mello
By Gufram Furniture, Guido Drocco and Franco Mello
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Cactus is the icon of Italian design that has revolutionized the domestic landscape. Made of flexible polyurethane this hall tree with four cantilever arms is as tall as a person and...
Other
$2,800 / item
Gufram "the End Stool Is Black" by Toiletpaper
By Toiletpaper, Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari, Gufram Furniture
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
The funeral look of this furniture-sculpture is tempered by the softness of the polyurethane that makes it: in perfect Gufram tradition nothing is as it seems. "THE END in BLACK" is ...
Paint
Andy’s Cactus Blue Coat Racks Sculpture by Andy Warhol x Gufram
By Andy Warhol, Gufram Furniture
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
Gufram presents new limited editions of its iconic CACTUS® in collaboration with The Andy Warhol Foundation of Visual Arts —— ANDY’S CACTUS® as its debut worldwide. The new version is still made of polyurethane, molded from the original 1972 version, and then hand-carved by professional artisans, each piece is unique. The results are ANDY’S BLUE CACTUS...
Other
Gufram "the End Stool Is Black" by Toiletpaper
By Toiletpaper, Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari, Gufram Furniture
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
The funeral look of this furniture-sculpture is tempered by the softness of the polyurethane that makes it: in perfect Gufram tradition nothing is as it seems. "THE END in BLACK" is ...
Paint
GUFRAMINI Miniature Cactus by Drocco & Mello
By Gufram Furniture, Guido Drocco and Franco Mello
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
The miniature Cactus, one of the radical design symbols par excellence. Gufram offers its fans a version identical to the original designed by Drocco and Mello in 1972. The mini mold...
Foam
$10,036 / item
H 80.71 in W 27.56 in D 17.72 in
Branch Gold 24-Karat Coat Rack in Gold or White or Oxidized Finish
Located in Paris, FR
Coat rack branch gold 24-karat made with steel structure gold plated in 24-karat. Must be wall mounted. Price: 7500,00€. Also available on request in: Steel in lacquered matte white ...
Gold Plate, Steel
Stacked Glass Panel Saguaro Cactus Sculpture
Located in San Diego, CA
A very cool stacked glass panel saguaro cactus sculpture, circa 1980s. The piece is hand made by gluing stacked panels of glass, it is in very good ...
Glass
$8,477
H 16.5 in W 47.5 in D 13.2 in
Very Rare Antique Oak Wall Coat Rack w. Acrobatic Jester Figure Hooks, Great Fun
Located in Lisse, NL
Unique and highly decorative wall coat rack with at least ten hooks. One of the main reasons for people wanting to own antiques is for their decorative appeal and this hand-crafted work-of-art wall rack certainly fits that bill. This good condition wall coat-rack with the finest quality cast iron wall hooks...
Iron
$11,343 / set
H 17.72 in W 22.84 in D 20.48 in
Piero Gilardi, Set of Two "Sassi" - "Rocks" Stones, Gufram Edition, Italy, 1960s
By Piero Gilardi
Located in Amsterdam, NL
A seminal work by Italian artist Piero Gilardi, Sassi ("Rocks") is a pioneering exploration of form, material, and ecological commentary in the late 1960s. This suite of two stones, ...
Formica, Polystyrene
Large Decorative Cane Cactus, 1960s
By Guido Drocco and Franco Mello
Located in Den Haag, NL
Large decorative cane cactus, 1960s. In very good vintage condition with minimal wear of use.
Cane
La Bocca Bowl by Marcela Cure
Located in Geneve, CH
La Bocca bowl by Marcela Cure. Dimensions: W 32 x D 22 x H 26 cm. Materials: resin and stone composite. Our La Bocca bowl is inspired by the fascinating and provocative figure o...
Stone
$8,100 / item
H 66.93 in W 27.56 in D 27.56 in
GUFRAM Another Green Cactus Sculptural Coatrack by Drocco & Mello
By Gufram Furniture, Guido Drocco and Franco Mello
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Cactus is the icon of Italian design that has revolutionized the domestic landscape. Made of flexible polyurethane this hall tree with four cantilever arms is as tall as a person and...
Other
Modern Spanish Hand Painted Cactus Iron Garden Sculpture
Located in Marbella, ES
Modern Spanish hand painted cactus iron garden sculpture.
Iron
$9,500 / item
H 84 in W 13 in D 10 in
Coat Rack Sculptural Modern Spherical Geometric Handmade Carved Blackened Steel
By J.M. Szymanski
Located in Bronx, NY
COAT RACK J.M. Szymanski d. 2017 This unique coat stand is contemporary sculpture. A solid cast sphere supports a slender stand, which can hold between 5-...
Steel
$9,337 / item
H 66.93 in W 27.56 in D 27.56 in
Another Green Cactus, Coat Stand / Sculpture by Drocco / Mello for Gufram
By Gufram Furniture
Located in Dubai, AE
The subject of several, free and often ambiguous interpretations, Cactus is the icon of Italian design that has revolutionized the domestic landscape, by subverting the borders betwe...
Other
Sold
H 104.34 in W 31.5 in D 27.56 in
1st Edition Cactus Coat Rack by Guido Drocco & Franco Mello for Gufram, 1960s
By Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, Gufram Furniture
Located in London, GB
1st edition cactus designed by Guido Drocco and Franco Mello. Italian Radical Design. c1968. Manufactured by Gufram This piece is one of the 1st edition of 2000 made in 1968. They w...
Plastic, Foam
Sold
H 65.75 in Dm 29.53 in
Cactus Coat Rack Designed by Guido Rocco & Franco Mello, Edited by Gunfram
By (after) Andy Warhol, Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, Gufram Furniture
Located in Madrid, ES
Cactus model coat rack designed by Guido Drocco and Franco Mello. Edited by Gufram. Special edition of 99 copies in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts....
Other
Gufram Another White Cactus Designed by Drocco / Mello in Stock
By Gufram Furniture
Located in New York, NY
Coat stand of soft polyurethane finished by hand with Guflac The subject of several, free and often ambiguous interpretations, Cactus is the icon of Italian design that has revoluti...
Plastic
Cactus/Another Green by Gufram+Broken Mirror/ Grey by Gufram
By Gufram Furniture
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
Cactus/Another Green by Gufram +Broken Mirror/ Grey by Gufram + half shipping cost to Thailand
Other
Sold
H 66.93 in Dm 23.63 in
Pop-Art TOTEM Cactus by Guido Drocco & Franco Mello for Gufram No. 487, Italy
By Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, Gufram Furniture
Located in Antwerp, BE
Vintage original, Pop-Art four-armed coat ‘Cactus' stand, produced in 1986 as number 487 /2000 designed by Guido Drocco & Franco Mello for GUFRAM in soft polyurethane, finished by ha...
Foam, Paint
Sold
H 29.93 in W 45.28 in D 39.38 in
1972, Studio 65, Gufram, Large Capitello, Used by Erwin Olaf & Karin Bloemen
By Gufram Furniture, Studio 65
Located in Amsterdam IJMuiden, NL
Beautiful object. Used for a photoshoot by Erwin Olaf, to shoot Karin Bloemen. From first owner. Some color difference and stains appeared over time. Some small damages. (see pict...
Polymer
Sold
H 29.53 in W 25.2 in D 18.51 in
1972, Piero Gilardi by Gufram, Sassi, Sedilsasso, Sasso Authentic Vintage
By Piero Gilardi, Gufram Furniture
Located in Amsterdam IJMuiden, NL
The three rocks are a spectacular iconic set. Every rock has a unique appearance and feel of structure, which makes them a realistic set of rocks. The biggest rock is in very good...
Polystyrene
Sold
H 66.93 in W 27.56 in D 27.56 in
Gufram Cactus 1986 N°746/2000 G. Drocco F. Mello designed 1972 out of Prod
By Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, Gufram Furniture
Located in Munster, NRW
Wonderful, original Gufrma Cactus in green - comes with original certificate. 1,70cm high....very nice condition! The version in green is out of production since 2010. polyuret...
Foam