Biography

Designer Guido Drocco is best known for one design in particular—the legendary 'Cactus' coat rack, which he created in the early 1970s together with his colleague Francesco Mello for the company Gufram.

Drocco studied architecture at the Politecnico di Torino, where he began teaching architectural design in 1966. The ‚Cactus‘ was born in 1972 from a creative dialogue on a rainy afternoon in Turin, and to this day it stands as a symbol of the Italian Radical Design movement and the experimental work of a young generation that drew inspiration not only from contemporary Pop Art, exhibitions, and rock music, but also from the use of innovative industrial materials.

At the tire company Pirelli, Guido Drocco, together with his artist friend Piero Gilardi, discovered the dimpled polyurethane, which seemed tailor-made to clad the ‘Cactus.’ The poyurethane foam is malleable and soft, thus ironically contrasting the very nature of this prickly desert plant. Due to its human proportions—standing approximately 170 cm tall with four protrusions that resemble outstretched arms—the ‘Cactus’ is the ideal piece of furniture for any entryway.

The first prototype deteriorated quickly until Gufram developed a special lacquer, Guflac, to make the objects resistant to external influences. The Cactus is still produced today by Gufram—which has changed production sites and ownership over time—in various variations in limited small series and, alongside other furniture made of PU foam, ranks among the iconic objects of the company founded in Piedmont in 1966.

Objects by Guido Drocco