Disco design is an important part of Gufram’s
history: the first such clubs appeared in Italy
in the mid-1960s, around the time the
company was founded, and some of the most
iconic venues were designed by the same
creatives that gravitated around its HQ –
then something of an ideas factory – in
Barolo, northern Italy. These architects were
part of the Radical design movement,
developed between Florence, Turin and
Milan in the 1960s and dedicated to aesthetic
innovation and experimentation. Radical
architects Giorgio Ceretti, Pietro Derossi and
Riccardo Rosso, designed some of Italy’s
swankiest disco spaces, including Piper in
Turin and L’Altromondo Studios in Rimini,
a legendary club still operating today. Both
were furnished with colourful seats produced
by Gufram. The brand’s avant-garde approach
later led to collaborations with the likes of
architects Studio 65 to produce iconic pieces
such as the ‘Bocca’ lips-shaped sofa.
Since 2011, Vezza and his team have
been working to preserve Gufram’s heritage,
while introducing new designers to build
on the brand’s cult status. Delving into the
company’s past is not an easy task: ‘It’s likehaving an immense puzzle to build, piece by
piece, as we don’t have a traditional archive
that we can work with,’ explains Vezza.
‘I always say that Gufram wrote the history
of design without knowing it, so there was
never a strong attention to documentation.’
The new collection is a playful take on an
illustrious history, pulled off with typical
Gufram exuberance. Each collaboration
developed organically: first came Rotganzen,
whose signature disco balls (originally created
for site-specific installations) feature on a
series of lacquered cabinets. Then Vezza
turned to Alberto Biagetti and Laura
Baldessari of Atelier Biagetti to reinterpret
1980s seating. ‘I immediately thought of them
for two reasons: their innovative work on
upholstered furniture, and the fact that they
come from Romagna, an Italian region
famous for its iconic nightlife,’ says Vezza.
The pair drew inspiration from the area’s
clubs, such as Baia Imperiale and Coccoricò,
but also reinterpreted elements of Gufram’s
back catalogue into five new modular sofa
designs, including a tartan and pink neon
number, a large velvet offering, a soft blob of
shimmering lilac, as well as a cluster of
iridescent pouffes, and a golden leather sofa
that can repeat and extend to create eithera twisting or semi-circular composition.
It is the first time that Gufram, a specialist
in polyurethane foam, has produced
upholstered furniture. The collaboration was
‘a meeting of minds’, say Biagetti and
Baldessari. ‘We feel very close to Gufram’s
cultural codes and references; it’s a company
which moves very fast when it comes to
innovation and research.’
The last piece in Vezza’s discotheque had
to be a suitably groovy floor to showcase
the furniture. Gufram head of product
Axel Iberti commissioned Gaëlle Gabillet and
Stéphane Villard’s Paris design studio GGSV
to create a series of graphic rugs after coming
across one of their dazzling installations at
the Centre Pompidou. The ‘Dance Floor’
rugs were developed to invite dancers to stand
in the middle and ‘do the freak’, the designers
explain. ‘There is something excessive and
very joyful in disco: it’s very Gufram.’
‘A furniture company speaks through its
products, and our collections express a
maximalist radical spirit,’ concludes Vezza.
‘This same spirit drives us to still be radical
in all the choices we make every day.’ ∂
Disco Gufram will be at Wallpaper* Handmade,
Mediateca Santa Teresa, 28 Via della Moscova,
17-21 April, wallpaper.com; gufram.com‘There is something excessive and very
joyful in disco: it’s very Gufram’
088 ∑
Design