Bocca Lips Sofa

The Bocca sofa was created by Studio 65 in 1970 for Italian manufacturer Gufram. Shaped like a pair of oversized red lips, the piece blurs the line between furniture and sculpture. The design pays homage to Salvador Dalí's 1930s Mae West Lips Sofa, which the Surrealist artist created for his British patron Edward James.

Studio 65 architect Franco Audrito originally designed the piece for an upscale fitness center in Milan. He called it "Marilyn" after both Marilyn Monroe and the facility's owner, Marilyn Garosci. The name later changed to Bocca, Italian for "mouth," to honor its Surrealist roots.

The sofa measures just over two meters wide, stands 85 centimeters tall, and weighs 30 pounds. Gufram constructs it from dense polyurethane foam covered in red poly-nylon fabric. The Bocca sits in the permanent collections of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, and the Design Museum in London. The Triennale Milano features it as a defining example of Italian Pop Art design.