Gufram
TypePrivately held company
IndustryDesigner furniture
Founded1966
FounderFratelli Gugliermetto
HeadquartersVia XXV Aprile 22, 12060,
Barolo, (Cuneo)
,
Italy
Websitegufram.it/en/

Gufram is an Italian furniture manufacturer known for avant-garde, conceptual, witty, and Pop-art influenced designs; the unconventional use of industrial materials; collaborations with well known architects and designers; and the contribution its products made to the aesthetics of the 1960s Radical period of Italian design.

Pratone seats in an exhibition

History

Bocca sofa designed by Studio 65

Gufram was founded in 1966 by furniture manufacturer Gugliermetto Fratelli Mobile (Grosso, Torino) as a brand and creative lab for the company to experiment with modern furniture production.[1][2][Notes 1]

Influenced by the early 1960s' avant-garde artistic culture in Torino and the radical architectural experimentation of the period, the Gugliermetto brothers began to explore new forms and new materials to use in the production of design projects. Adapting materials such as polyurethane foam, which was widely used as a packing insulant in the transportation industry, allowed Gufram to manufacture entirely new and radical furniture typologies.

At the initiative of creative director Giuseppe Raimondi, who joined the company in 1966,[3][Notes 2] Gufram began collaborations with emerging artists of the time such as Ugo Nespolo and Piero Gilardi of the Arte Povera movement; architects Studio 65,[4] Guido Drocco and Franco Mello,[5] Giorgio Ceretti, Pietro Derossi and Riccardo Rosso (Gruppo Strum);[6][7] and the mathematician and theoretical physicist Tullio Regge, who "transformed a mathematical quartic function into a volume with intentionally ergonomic characteristics" for the design of his Detecma seat.[8]

In 1968 Gufram presented its new products at the XIV Triennale in Milan under the name of Multipli (industrially reproduced art objects in limited edition), enjoying a considerable success with the public and press that encouraged the company to further explore their philosophy and production method. International recognition came in 1972 with an exhibition dedicated to Italian design entitled "Italy: The New Domestic landscape", curated by Emilio Ambasz and staged at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York, where they were first exposed,[9] and subsequently acquired for the museum's permanent collection.[10][11] From that moment on, Gufram products officially made it into the history of design and were introduced to the collections of recognized European and American museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art[12] of New York, the Vitra Design Museum, the Triennale of Milan, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Art Museum of Denver in the USA.

Gufram began manufacturing furniture for public spaces in 1978. The original Turin based company was acquired by the Poltrona Frau Group in 2004 and subsequently moved its headquarters to Tolentino. In 2012 the company was purchased by Sandra Vazza and her son Charley and has been based in Barolo, Piedmont since.[2] Gufram still produces furniture designed in the 1960s and 1970s in limited and special editions,[13] as well as more recent pieces by artists and designers such as Marion Baruch, Valerio Berruti, Snarkitecture, Studio Job, Ross Lovegrove, Michael Young, and Alessandro Mendini.[14]

Products

Capitello designed by Studio65

The Gufram catalogue consists in a number of limited edition pieces (Multipli) and open. The main products are:

  • Alvar, chaise-longue by Giuseppe Raimondi – 1966.
  • Margherita, table and chair by Giuseppe Raimondi and Ugo Nespolo – 1967.
  • Pavèpiuma, carpet by Piero Gilardi – 1967.
  • Sassi seating system by Piero Gilardi −1968.

Part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[15] Part of the collection of MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York.[16]

  • Torneraj, armchair by Giorgio Ceretti, Pietro Derossi and Riccardo Rosso – 1968

Part of the collection of MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York.[17]

Part of the collection of Triennale Design Museum in Milan.[18]

  • Puffo, seat by Giorgio Ceretti, Pietro Derossi and Riccardo Rosso – 1970 (in production)
  • Pratone, seat by Giorgio Ceretti, Pietro Derossi and Riccardo Rosso – 1971 (in production) part of the 100 Masterpiece of Design in the Collection of Vitra Design Museum[19]
  • Bocca, sofa by Studio 65 – 1970 (in production). The design of this piece of design has been inspired by the portrait of Mae West painted by Salvador Dalí.[20]
  • Cactus, coat stand by Guido Drocco and Franco Mello – 1972 (out of production) part of the collection of the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York[21]
  • Capitello, seat displayed in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York [22] Attica, seat; Attica TL, table; Atticat, table by Studio 65 – 1972 (in production)
  • Rumble, divan by Gianni Pettena – 1972
  • Massolo, table by Piero Gilardi – 1974 (in production)
  • Siedi-tee, seat by Laura Fubini, Francesco Mansueto, Marco Verrando – 2004 (in production)
  • Dejeuner Sur L'Arbre, table by Gianni Arnaudo – 2004 (in production)
  • BiancoCactus, coat stand by Guido Drocco and Franco Mello- 2007 (in production)
  • Dark Lady and Pink Lady, sofa by Studio 65 – 2008 (in production)
  • RossoCactus and NeroCactus, coat stand Guido Drocco and Franco Mello- 2010 (in production)
  • Metacactus, coat stand by Guido Drocco and Franco Mello – 2012 (in production)
  • Roxanne, armchair by Michael Young – 2017 (in production)[23]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The Vitra Design museum site states that "the company changed its name to Gufram in 1966". Additional reference(s) needed.
  2. ↑ Some references state that Raimondi joined Gufram (or its precursor) in 1965. Better source(s) needed.

References

  1. ↑ "Gufram – produttore di arredo (1952) – Aziende – designindex". www.designindex.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  2. 1 2 "Vitra Design Museum: Collection". collectiononline.design-museum.de. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  3. ↑ Piccinini, Patrizia (2023-02-01). "Arredamento anni Settanta, un mito tra rock e design". Architectural Digest Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  4. ↑ "STUDIO 65". www.gufram.it. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  5. ↑ "GUIDO DROCCO FRANCO MELLO". www.gufram.it. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  6. ↑ "GIORGIO CERETTI PIETRO DEROSSI RICCARDO ROSSO". www.gufram.it. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  7. ↑ "Gruppo STRUM – MuseoTorino". MuseoTorino (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  8. ↑ "Detecma, seat, design by Tullio Regge – Gufram". www.gufram.it. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  9. ↑ "Press Release Exhibition" (PDF). Italy: new domestic landscape. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "MOMA Collection". Sassi by Piero Gilardi. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  11. ↑ "MOMA Collection". Torneraj armchair by Ceretti, Derossi, Rosso. The Museum Of Modern Art, New York.
  12. ↑ Miller R., Craig (1990). Modern Design in the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1890–1990. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  13. ↑ "Andy Warhol incontra il Cactus di Gufram". Architectural Digest Italia (in Italian). 2022-04-01. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  14. ↑ "Products". Gufram. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  15. ↑ "The Collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art". Sassi seating group by Piero Gilardi. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
  16. ↑ "The Collection of Museum of Modern Art". Sassi seating system. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
  17. ↑ "The Collection of Museum of Modern Art". Torneraj armchair. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
  18. ↑ "Triennale Design Museum". Dectecma, armchair by Tullio Regge. Triennale di Milano. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  19. ↑ "The Collection of Vitra Design Museum". Pratone chaise longue. Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein (Germany). Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  20. ↑ "50enni in perfetta forma". la Repubblica (in Italian). 2020-06-23. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  21. ↑ "Why Gufram Cactus, now 50 years old, is revolutionary". www.domusweb.it. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  22. ↑ "The Collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art". Capitello armchair by Studio 65. The Metropolitan Art Museum, New York. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  23. ↑ "Roxanne, armchair, design by Michael Young – Gufram". www.gufram.it. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
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