360_icon

Drag to Rotate Chair | Click to Zoom

Bocca Chair

A universal symbol of Pop Art as furniture, the Bocca Sofa, introduced in 1970, was inspired by Salvador Dali’s 1935 Portrait of Mae West and the bright red lips of pop culture icons like Marilyn Monroe.

DESIGNER | Studio 65, 1970

Bocca Chair

H: 33″
W: 82.5″
D: 30″

A universal symbol of Pop Art as furniture, the Bocca Sofa, introduced in 1970, was inspired by Salvador Dali’s 1935 Portrait of Mae West and the bright red lips of pop culture icons like Marilyn Monroe. The chair’s designers were exploring the radical freedom of design, created by the new material of cold-expanded polyurethane foam – which was the p[erfect medium to articulate their high regard for the giant dimensions and stylization of objects popular in the 1960s. Originally manufactured by Gufram in Italy, and subsequently by Heller Italy, Bocca is now made of a lightly textured resin that makes it suitable for indoor and outdoor use.

Studio 65

In 1970 Italian architect Franco Audrito was commissioned to design a fitness center in Milan. He and a team of young designers, architects, and artists–who were lovers of American Pop Art, New American Cinema, and Italian avant-garde at Studio 65 in Torino, Italy–took on the challenge and risk of creating seating with such bold design. Bocca is seen in hotels, restaurants, galleries and such museums as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Louvre in Paris, Milan’s Permanent Design Collection and Denver’s Museum of Modern Art. Audrito continues to head Studio 65 in architectural and design projects throughout the world.

Bocca Chair  | c.1970

Manufacturer

Original: Gufram | Italy
Current: Heller | Italy

Build

Dimensions: 82.5″W x 30″D x 33″H
Material: roto molded polymer