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.
GUFRAM Ron Ron Pouf by Marion Baruch
By Gufram Furniture, Marion Baruch
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Ron Ron is to all intents and purposes an inanimate pet animal; hence its name, that obviously recalls the sound of purring. Created by the multifaceted artist...
Other
Gufram Magritta Sculpture-Armchair by Sebastian Matta
By Gufram Furniture, Sebastian Matta
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Magritta is a sculpture-armchair, homage to Surrealism. The green apple and the black bowler hat, recurrent figurative elements in the works of René Magritte, are assembled by the vi...
Other
GUFRAM Mozza Stool & Chair by Giuseppe Raimondi
By Gufram Furniture, Giuseppe Raimondi
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Designed in 1968 by Giuseppe Raimondi, Mozza maintains the same vibrant revolutionary appeal and ability to adapt to countless living needs. Rendered in its present edition in a sexier and slimmer form, Mozza is an upturned truncated and athwart-cut cone on which it would seem impossible to sit. By lying back on its sloping surface of sort polyurethane, though, its structure gives in to body weight until it acquires the shape of a chair with back- and armrests. It's simple but original structural magic that makes it one of a kind. Mozza's external mass misleads you. Thanks to its lightness, this seat becomes a nomadic and versatile object in the living landscape. The primary seat for the sitting-room at home or the perfect service armchair in the sophisticated and elegant halls of design hotels, Mozza combines the international contemporary style with the characters of the Italian radical design, highlighted by the variety of its contemporary and pop upholstery colours. ABSTRACT Designed in 1968 by Giuseppe Raimondi, Mozza is an upturned truncated and athwart-cut cone on which it would seem impossible to sit. By lying back on its sloping surface of sort polyurethane, though, its structure gives in to body weight until it acquires the shape of a chair with back- and armrests. It's simple but original structural magic that makes it one of a kind. Mozza's external mass misleads you. Thanks to its lightness, this seat becomes a nomadic and versatile object in the living landscape. TECHICAL INFO Seat of soft polyurethane covered with cloth. Ø 85x80 cm, 9 Kg Ø 33,5x31,5 in, 20 lb DID YOU KNOW 1. It's one of the first projects by Gufram – born at the beginning of its activity. 2. It was designed by the first Artistic Director of the brand – Giuseppe Raimondi. 3. Mozza's sloping plane becomes soft when weight is set on it, and it allows you to comfortably sink in it. 4. Mozzo de-constructs the traditional...
Fabric, Resin
Gufram Massolo Tea Table by Piero Gilardi
By Gufram Furniture, Piero Gilardi
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Massolo, which can at first sight look like a heavy block of porphyry, etched and polished on the surface - an immovable boulder that, thanks to the polyurethane it is made of, loses...
Other
GUFRAM Detecma Lounge in Gray by Tullio Regge
By Gufram Furniture, Tullio Regge
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Detecma is an acronym for design, technique and mathematics. These three values were united for the first time in 1967, the year when the Physicist Professor Tullio Regge, renown as ...
Fabric, Resin
GUFRAM Detecma Lounge in Green by Tullio Regge
By Tullio Regge, Gufram Furniture
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Detecma is an acronym for design, technique and mathematics. These three values were united for the first time in 1967, the year when the Physicist Professor Tullio Regge, renown as ...
Fabric, Resin
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
Gufram "Sassi" Stone Effect Sculptural Pouf by Piero Gilardi (MoMA Exhibited)
By Gufram Furniture, Piero Gilardi
Located in Varedo, MB
Designed by Piero Gilardi in 1968 for Gufram, Sassi is one of the most iconic expressions of Italian Radical Design, transforming ordinary stones into extraordinary collectible furni...
Other
Soft Argil Gelée Pouf by Roberto Paoli
Located in Geneve, CH
Soft Argil Gelée Pouf by Roberto Paoli Dimensions: Ø 48 x H 40 cm. Seat Height: 40 cm. Materials: Soft polyurethane. Weight: 6 kg. Available in three different color options: soft w...
Other
Saturno Pouf by Stefania Loschi
By Stefania Loschi
Located in Geneve, CH
Saturno Pouf by Stefania Loschi Dimensions: D x W x H cm Materials: Also available: customizable sofa cover upon request. SATURNO is an indoor and outdoor lounge sitting solution. The sphere is the seat backrest and also a seat itself. Design by Stefania Loschi and made in Italy with care. Stefania Loschi was born in Jordan in 1984 from an Italian-Brazilian family that made her travel the world, live in different cultures and grow up in highly creative environements. After graduating in Interior Design at the IED in Milan in 2006, she moved to London to attend a master's degree in set design at the Central Saint Martin College of Art, collaborating with MTV UK and Next London, creating sets for television shows and photo shoots. For the following ten years she worked as an interior & set designer and decorator, mixing her passion for architecture, art and graphics until 2013 when she moved to Paris. In Paris she lived in the 6th arrondissement for almost five years, working on interior design projects for restaurants, shops and private apartments. She was the co-founder of OCRA STUDIO with Isabella Garbagnati...
Other
Saba Geo Outdoor Medium Pouf in Green Vip Upholstery by Paolo Grasselli
By Paolo Grasselli
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Saba’s iconic Geo pouf moves outdoor. The versatile element that is the Geo pouf can now be used in outdoor environments thanks to the thermo-treated upholste...
Upholstery
Gufram Ron Ron by Marion Baruch
By Gufram Furniture
Located in New York, NY
Ron Ron is to all intents and purposes an inanimate pet animal that can show lots of affection and keep lots and lots of company. Hence the name, which recalls the sound of purring. ...
Faux Fur, Plastic
