Work: Bocca

Description

“Exhibited at the Louvre, the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney, and the Die Neue Sammlung (Design Museum) in Munich, this pop icon of pop icons is an unexpected object whose inspiration seamlessly blends cinema and sex appeal.” — Gianluca Pezzi, Elle Decor.

Designed by Studio 65 and manufactured by Gufram in 1970, Bocca is a sofa shaped like a pair of human lips. Situated at the very center of the face, the mouth is naturally a focal point—crucial for understanding speech and acting as the true locus of the spoken word. The design draws inspiration from the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí, who in 1935 painted the Hollywood actress Mae West’s lips as a red sofa. In this famous portrait, West’s face is reimagined as a room: her hair forms the draped curtains, her nose becomes a fireplace, and her eyes are depicted as two framed paintings.

The Bocca sofa encapsulates all of this—it is a design object that entices you to look, sit, and quite literally “be on its lips.” Measuring just over two meters wide, it is constructed from polyurethane foam padding, with a firmer seat for stability and a softer backrest for comfort. Upholstered in a vibrant, red stretch fabric, it functions as a piece of theatrical scenery dripping with irony. When it first debuted, it immediately evoked the seductive image of Marilyn Monroe—so much so that for many, “Marilyn” remains the sofa’s actual name.

As design critic Chiara Alessi notes: “The designers were inspired by the surrealism of Dalí who, before them, used his painting to transform an actress’s mouth—the ultimate symbol of sensuality—into a physical object.”