Cactus Coat Stand by Guido Drocco & Franco Mello for Gufram Furniture, 1986

This Cactus coat rack is signed by the maker with 'Gufram Multiples '86'. The Gufram Cactus is included in several museum collections around the world and is documented in a number of publications on decorative arts from the 20th century. It is made from polyurethane, black-lacquered to a 'Guflac' finish, and features in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Pompidou de Paris, and the Tate Museum London. The subject of often ambiguous interpretations, Cactus attempts to challenge the domestic landscape by subverting the borders between indoor area and open space, acting as an ironic totem, and embodying the imagination and the humour of 1970s design. Cactus was designed in 1972 through the collaboration of Guido Drocco and Franco Mello.