METACACTUS - NEROCACTUS - ROSSOCACTUS -ANOTHER GREEN & ANOTHER WHITE (1972) by Guido Drocco & Franco Mello - ICONICAL COLLECTION
The Cactus designed in 1972 by Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, an icon of the Italian radical design of the Seventies, acquires two new colors, Another Green and Another White.
Another Green is a tribute to the original edition, but the green one is characterized by a different, lighter and brighter, alive and contemporary tone; Another White, on the other hand, acquires a warm, soft, natural allure, with a shade of white that approaches ivory, the tone of canvases.
Made of flexible polyurethane, Cactus by Gufram is soft and without thorns. This hall tree with four cantilevered arms is about as tall as a person and looks like an ironic totem that embodies the grit, imagination and humor of the design of the Seventies. Able to draw all the attention on itself, it frees itself from functionalism at all costs, because it can fulfill its function as well as be used as a decorative element.
Created in 1972, it immediately challenged the static and rigid world of Interior Design projects. Made entirely by hand, each piece is unique: as a matter of fact, the 2165 bosses by which its surface is characterized, have been finished by hand one by one by specialized workers, and then painted with Guflac, the special and unique finish patented by Gufram that allows to make polyurethane look like leather and maintain its flexibility and softness.
Over the years Cactus has been produced in several colors for as many limited and numbered editions that have become objects of worship so much as to be exhibited in the most important museums in the world: from the Triennale of Milan to the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, to the Barbican in London.
ABSTRACT
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 looks like an ironic totem.
It was created in 1972 and since then it is made and painted by hand. Over the years Cactus has been produced in several colours for as many limited and numbered editions on exhibit in the most important museums in the world.
TECHNICAL INFO
Standing hall tree of soft polyurethane finished by hand with Guflac.
70x70x170 cm, ~22 kg | 27,6x27,6x66,9 in, ~49 lb
DID YOU KNOW
1. It's original function is that of a hall tree (it should be assumed, by not everybody knows about it...).
2. It's soft!
3. It's a universal Radical Design and Made in Italy Icon.
4. It is still realized using the original 1972 mould.
5. Each piece is unique because it is finished completely by hand.
6. On its surface there are 2165 bosses (one boss more, one boss less...).
7. From 4 to 5 weeks of work are necessary to have a finished Cactus.
8. The 2010 white limited edition was sold out in 6 months.
9. The 2014 Bleu Cactus limited edition, a homage to France, was sold out in 3 days.
10. It is a part of permanent collections in important international museums such as MUDE in Lisbon, ADAM in Brussels and Fondation Beyeler in Basel.
11. It is a part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Design Museum in New York.
