Guido Drocco and Franco Mello’s 1972 Cactus Never Goes Out of Style

Guido Drocco and Franco Mello’s 1972 Cactus was ahead of the bringing-the-outside-in trend. Standing over 5 ½ feet tall, the coatrack was originally offered in naturalistic green. Since then, it has appeared in myriad hues, even multicolored. But its biggest collaboration is for its half-century birthday. Gufram and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts have paired up to produce three limited editions in colors associated with the pop art icon: Andy’s Blue Cactus, Andy’s Yellow Cactus, and Andy’s Pink Cactus. (There will be 99 of each.) “We started off imagining how Warhol could have depicted the Cactus, then created the 3-D version by working with a trio of typically Warhol colors and highlighting their tips with black, just as in one of his screen prints,” Gufram owner and art director Charley Vezza says. Today’s incarnations are still produced from soft polyurethane using the original 1972 mold and painted with the company’s leather-look Guflac paint.