Date: 2014
Artist: Toiletpaper
Brand: Gufram
Color: gray
Material: polyurethane
Dimensions: L. 36 cm - D. 22 cm - H. 60 cm
Availability: 3 - 4 weeks
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LIMITED EDITION 1/1000
Gufram is withdrawing from the world of design. Declares it and puts an end to it.
Due to the many critics who have always condemned Gufram's anti-design concept, the time to say "enough" has arrived and Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari celebrate his funeral.
TOILETPAPER therefore writes Gufram's epitaph which, as a final act of resistance, creates a tombstone that can be used as a seat of grotesque irony.
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The Italian Maurizio Cattelan likes derision and sparking controversy by creating works intended to challenge the public. Trained independently, he began his career in the late 1980s. His works, which take shape from real-world objects and people, are the result of an irreverent operation against art and institutions. Cattelan opens his own New York gallery, the Wrong Gallery, a space where nothing is sold and which remains permanently closed. Cattelan creates works which always cause scandal and give rise to all kinds of interpretations, even questioning religion and the sacred, such as La Nona Ora, a sculpture which represents a life-size wax effigy of the late pope. John Paul II struck down by a meteorite. His sculpture “LOVE” exhibited in Piazza Affari in Milan since 2010 provokes residents and calls into question the history of this financial square with a simple gesture (middle finger).
In January 2012, the Guggenheim Museum in New York presented a retrospective of his work over 21 years, entitled “Maurizio Cattelan: All”. In June 2010, he launched the biannual magazine Toiletpaper with photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari containing images full of humor and fantasy. Toiletpaper is now a brand that translates its kitsch images into decorative objects and clothing brands.
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Gufram is an Italian furniture manufacturer based in Barolo (Piedmont region). Founded in 1966 by the Gugliermetto brothers, Gufram, acronym for "Gugliermetto Fratelli Arredamenti Moderni", takes the form of a creative laboratory: they combine their knowledge of local craftsmanship with emerging architects and artists of the time. Their sculptured art objects revolutionized the aesthetics of 1960s furniture. From 1965, Gufram followed the artistic direction of designer Giuseppe Raimondi, who associated the company with emerging artists and architects of the time.
They study new choices of materials and mainly choose polyurethane foam to pad and structure their sculptural creations. Polyurethane will become their trademark. In addition to mastering the processing of flexible polyurethane, Gufram has developed and patented a special finish: Guflac®, the true essence of the company's artisanal spirit: this special and unique paint job makes surfaces more uniform, consistent and elastic . Soft, elegant shapes are thus created, innovative shapes that would otherwise be impossible to cover.
Gufram icons, regardless of the collection they are part of, are made by sculpting flexible polyurethane foam which is then finished or decorated by hand with the Guflac® backing.
Their creations, in the wake of pop art, are anchored in the avant-garde movement of the 1960s.
In 1968, Gufram presented its products under the name Multipli: industrially reproduced art objects in limited edition. Gufram then enjoyed considerable success with the public and the international press. Among their most remarkable creations: the Bocca sofa, originally designed by Salvador Dali, the Cactus coat rack, the majestic Pratone seat or even more recently the grotesque stools in the shape of a tombstone The End from the Toiletpaper collection, or the Broken Mirror imagined by Snarkitecture.
These “domestic sculptures” now appear in the most beautiful homes and the most renowned museums in the world.
The Gufram company was bought in 2012 by entrepreneur Sandra Vezza and her son Charley as artistic director. They were able to breathe new life into the company, notably on the occasion of the company's 50th anniversary celebrations in 2016 but also with new collaborations such as that with Moschino “Moschino kissed Gufram”.
