BOCCA®: 1970 - 2020, 50 YEARS OF A LEGEND
The original lips sofa in 25 new colours
Gufram, the Italian design brand which has always distinguished itself for its radical and revolutionary approach, celebrates 50 years of the original Bocca® lip-shaped couch designed by Studio65 in 1970. Originally conceived for a beauty salon in Milan, Bocca® is the perfect abstraction of sensuality and of the irreverent pop spirit of 1970s design: the project is the symbol of that radical research which Gufram, beginning with its founding 1966, carries on even today.
Studio 65 conceived Bocca® at the request of the owner of a chain of beauty salons in Milan: the type of place in which the piece would be positioned made the research focus on beauty and sensuality. The 1960s were a period of big change for the female image and for the affirmation of a “pop” aesthetic, thanks also to the widespread diffusion of mass media and its virtuous intertwining with the art and creativity of the time.
The disruptive and subversive look of this couch was immediately noticed by the media and by insiders to the extent that the prestigious American Life magazine was the first to showcase it. It was thus that Bocca® also took on the name of Lips® Sofa, the nickname with which it is known in English-speaking countries.
After 50 years, Bocca® still maintains its irreverent and ironic spirit, its glamorous and timeless aesthetic, and affirms itself as one of the most internationally famous and celebrated design pieces through exhibitions, permanent collections in museums, magazine covers, and interior design projects.
The new woollen fabric, elegant and resistant, joins its chromatic richness to give life to alchemy able to infinitely multiply the stories told by Bocca® and continue to explore, in a kaleidoscope of colours and words, the possibilities of contemporary living.
ONE, TEN...50 BOCCA®:
Since 1970, the Bocca® couch has only been available from Gufram. The classic version, with its typical red cover, is available in a limited edition of 1,000 pieces and is still being produced using the original mold. However, over the years, its disruptive image has inspired various versions able to meet the aesthetic needs of collectors while at the same time adapting to the evolving social context.
For this reason, two new limited editions of 500 pieces each were born in 2008: Pink Lady, offered with a new glamorous and stylish fuchsia covering, and Dark Lady, all black with an oversized piercing, a transgressive interpretation with a pronounced goth inclination.
In 2015, to celebrate Studio65’s first 50 years in business, Gufram premiered a special limited edition of only 50 models of the couch with a gold fabric covering at GAM in Turin on the occasion of the Il mercante di nuvole (The Cloud Merchant) exhibit. Maintaining its iconic shape inspired by the fire red lips of the Hollywood stars, this new edition embellishes even more an object which has entered the most beautiful homes and most important museums in the world.
In 2017 a new collaboration contributed to the contamination of Bocca® with the creative flair of Moschino, the visionary and maverick fashion brand. Zipped Lips! Is a limited edition of 99 pieces reinterpreted by Jeremy Scott, creative director of the fashion house, in the context of the capsule collection Moschino Kisses Gufram. A gold zipper keeps the lips of the fire red fabric-covered sensual couch closed, giving it a fetish pop touch.
On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, thanks to the Unlimited edition, Bocca® multiplies its allure becoming open edition, maintaining its radical spirit unchanged. Today, 25 colors merge with its sinuous lines to give life to a new season in which the most vivid colors coexist with neutral ones. From the most warm colors like red and orange, through green and various shades of blue, to the more neutraL colors like grey and beige, Bocca® Unlimited plays with a vibrant spectrum of tones maintaining its seductive soul, its radical spirit, and its overwhelming vital energy, even a half century after its creation.
