Every so often a company produces a design so iconic that it comes to symbolize its entire history. For Studio 65, the Italian avant-garde design collective cofounded by Franco Audrito, Piero Gatti and others, this was the Bocca sofa — alternatively known as the “lips sofa,” “red lip sofa,” “Dalí sofa” or Marilyn sofa.”
Studio 65’s lip-shaped seat — modeled after a singular feature from Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí’s portrait of Mae West — became a design icon shortly after its release in 1970 and remains a beloved collector’s item today. The Bocca symbolizes Studio 65’s playful, subversive approach to design. The collective took shape in Turin in 1965 with the goal of avant-garde experimentation. The group would eventually grow to comprise artists, designers and poets, including Roberta Garosci, Enzo Bertone, Paolo Morello and Paolo Rondelli. It would also play a central role in the Italian Radical design movement, the practitioners of which found inspiration in Pop art, minimalism and Arte Povera.
The Bocca sofa was born of one of Audrito’s earliest commissions — to design a gym in Milan — which he accepted just a year after graduating from architecture school. The collective enlisted Italian manufacturer Gufram, a firm at the forefront of Italian Radical design, to create a bold red sofa in the shape of plump lips; it was dubbed Marilyn after Ms. Monroe and was an instant sensation when installed at the fitness center.
Studio 65 would follow this with the also iconic Capitello side chair (another Gufram collaboration, now in the permanent collection at The Met), whose reimagining of a decapitated marble classical architectural column in squishy foam was an on-the-nose expression of the group’s pushback to traditional design. It’s a nod they iterated with the Attica coffee table, whose form appears sliced from an oversize column.
Though Studio 65 still operates as an architecture studio under the leadership of Audrito today, the original collective broke up in the late 1970s, making its output from the past decade sought-after fodder for collectors of postmodern, Radical and Italian design.
Find Studio 65 chairs, sofas and other furniture on 1stDibs.
1970s Mela Morsicata Sculptural Hand Painted Foam Apple Chair Studio 65
By Studio 65
Located in Fort Lauderdale, FL
Transport yourself back to the 1970s with this exquisite art piece! "Mela Morsicata Apple" chair in hand painted polyurethane foam. Designed by Studio 65, Italy, 1971. Outstanding design is exhibited throughout. The luxurious apple chair...
Foam, Paint
Radical Italian Design 1st Edition 'Attica' chairs by Studio65 for Gufram 1972
By Studio 65, Gufram Furniture
Located in bergen op zoom, NL
Pair of rare 1st edition 'Attica' Chairs design by Studio65 and produced by Gufram in 1972 Part of a Greek column with the CAPITELLO lounge chair, ATTICA armchair, and ATTICA TL cof...
Foam
Poggioli Sculptural Dining Chair, 1970
Located in Lonigo, Veneto
Poggioli sculptural dining chair, suede and burl, 1970, Italy. This dining chair by Poggioli, crafted in 1970, captures the avant-garde spirit of Italian design in the early Seventi...
Suede, Wood
Rare Sculptural Chair in Alpaca, Italy, 1970s / 80s
By Joe Colombo, Olivier Mourgue, Mario Bellini, Eero Saarinen
Located in Lewes, East Sussex
A curved scultptural lounge chairs, Italian, 1970s/80s. Newly upholstered in a premium pure Alpaca fabric. Fast shipping worldwide.
Mohair, Wood
Studio Made Sculptural Chain Side Chair
Located in Chicago, IL
c. 1990s. Studio made in Michigan. Super uncomfortable
Metal
Rare Sculptural Chairs in Mohair, Italy, 1970s / 80s
By Eero Saarinen, Joe Colombo, Mario Bellini, Olivier Mourgue
Located in Lewes, East Sussex
A superb pair of curved scultptural lounge chairs, Italian, 1970s/80s. Newly upholstered in a premium ivory 100% mohair fabric. Fast shipping worldwide.
Wood, Mohair
Hand-Carved Folk Art Log Chair, Sculptural Design, USA, 1970s
Located in Round Top, TX
Folk Art, Primitive sculptural log chair. Carved from a single wood log, with hand tools and with a particular orientation, dimensionality and wonderful hand-feel. Created after the ...
Wood
GUFRAM Pink Lady Couch by Studio 65
By Studio 65, Gufram Furniture
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Bocca, the original 1970 lips-shaped couch is only Gufram's. This sensual couch, which is ideal for a tête-à-tête, has entered the collective imagination on par with Andy Warhol's works, as well as other pop art masterpieces...
Other
Italian 1970s Bamboo and Leather Sculptural Chair
Located in London, Charterhouse Square
Italian sculptural chair with bamboo frame, leather cover marked ‘sem il vaccaro’ 1970s.
Leather, Bamboo
GUFRAM Dark Lady Couch by Studio 65
By Gufram Furniture, Studio 65
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Bocca, the original 1970 lips-shaped couch is only Gufram's. This sensual couch, which is ideal for a tête-à-tête, has entered the collective imagination ...
Other
GUFRAM Capitello Chaise Lounge by Studio 65
By Gufram Furniture, Studio 65
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
The chaise loungeCapitello is contemporary archaeological finds that can be left out in the weather thanks to a particular finish which is suited also to outdoor use. Or displayed in...
Foam
$343 / item
H 38.59 in W 20.08 in D 21.66 in
Dutch Brutalist Oak Dining Chair with Sculptural Back, 1970s, Priced Each
By Axel Einar Hjorth
Located in Boven Leeuwen, NL
A robust Dutch Brutalist dining chair in solid oak, made in the Netherlands around 1970. The price is per chair; two chairs are currently available, so you can buy one or both. The p...
Oak
Sculptural Pine Stump Chair, 1970s USA
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Sculptural chair made from a solid Pine tree trunk. Fantastic shape and lines. Comfortable seat with great coloring. Standalone sculpture that really fills a room. Good condition wit...
Pine
Surrealist Hand Chair, 1970s USA
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A wonderfully unique and surrealist hand-shaped chair handmade in the 1970s. Elongated fingers covered in black velvet form the back of the chair, encapsulating the sitter within th...
Chrome
Limited Edition Gufram Bocca Sofa by Studio 65
By Studio 65, Gufram Furniture
Located in New York, NY
Born to satisfy the demand of a private customer, it’s been featured since then on dedicated - but not only - magazine covers, and it is still displayed in the most unconventional ho...
Wool
1970s Spanish Hand Woven Wicker Painted Round Low Stool
Located in Marbella, ES
Vintage 1970s Spanish hand woven wicker painted round stool.
Wicker
1970s Wing Chair, Czechoslovakia
Located in Praha, CZ
Good original condition with minor signs of use.
Fabric
"Mela Morsicata Apple" chair by Studio 65
By Studio 65
Located in New York, NY
"Mela Morsicata Apple" chair in hand painted polyurethane foam. Designed by Studio 65, Italy, 1971. This example made by Franco Audrito in 2015 for the GAM exhibition.
Foam
Studio 65 Marilyn lip Sofa
By Studio 65
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
An icon of Pop Art Furniture. A cleaver nod to the 1937 Salvador Dali Surrealist sculpture/sofa "Mae West" This is an older example with a multitude of issues. The cover is faded,...
Fabric
"Capitello" Chair Designed by Studio 65
By Gufram Furniture, Studio 65
Located in Dronten, NL
The "Capitello" became an international cult object in 1972 with the landmark MOMA New York exhibition, "Italy: The New Domestic Landscape." This original Gufram example of the "Ca...