There’s a strange phenomenon afoot. The nightclub scene is in crisis, but the imagery connected to the world of nightlife is more vibrant than ever. 70’s disco is making a comeback (as seen in the Vitra Design Museum’s latest exhibit), colorful neon lights signal everything from offices to houses, and Buffalo shoes can be spotted in shop windows along with the funky platforms in true Spice Girls style.

The world of design has also made its claim on disco revival, and leading the pack is none other than Gufram. Giving us a taste this past November, they brought a reconstruction of Turin’s Piper Club to Artissima, a spin-off of what may possibly be the most famous club in Italy.

Turin’s The Piper, along with L’Altro Mondo in Rimini, or the Space Electronic in Florence were among the biggest nightclubs of Italy during the economic boom.

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Leonardo Scotti

They’re also the spaces of freedom, where visions of radical design flourish with flexible and hands-on interiors, often at a low budget. Gufram becomes the spokesman for the funky style, producing furnishings that are experiments of flexibility.

And now at Fuorisalone 2018, Disco Gufram is ready to make its debut, the contemporary version of the 60’s nightclub signed by Charley Vezza and decorated by Atelier Biagetti (Alberto Biagetti and Laura Baldassari), Rotganzen (Robin Stam and Joeri Horstink), and GGSV (Gaëlle Gabillet and Stéphane Villard).

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Leonardo Scotti

Gufram’s project for Fuorisalone is a verified nightclub right in the center of Milan, where you can catch a glimpse of Betsy, Tony, Stanley, Jimmy e Charly, the 5 nightclub sofa models. For these creations, Atelier Biagetti interpreted the historic line of seats for Gufram Linea Discoteca (produced in the late 70’s), researching the brand’s archives and hitting a few clubs themselves. “Those names evoked real figures to interact with and we decided to let ourselves be completely influenced, giving them a second life. Each piece is conceived as a person, with precise behavior, sense of humor, beauty, and even vices and dreams that are unleashed throughout the night” they explain.

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Leonardo Scotti

Obviously Disco Gufram couldn’t go without a dance floor, or in this case, a “compilation” of modern rugs designed by the Parisian studio GGSV (Gaëlle Gabillet e Stéphane Villard). Dance Floor is a series of rugs printed in vibrant colors and diverse forms - circular, long, and narrow, all with rounded borders. They are available in orange, pink, purple, and black, born “from the combination of a striped pattern and an illuminated neon podium, so you feel like the king of the sofa”, say Gaëlle and Stéphane.

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Leonardo Scotti

Rotganzen takes over for the After Party with three cabinets and two coffee tables, on which the disco ball, symbol of the vintage nightclub, rests after a long night. A “visual metaphor of dissolving glory, as we can see in the frozen, amorphous mass covered with a sparkling skin, made from mirror fragments. That which was once a perfect form, today assumes a new meaning and character. However, it’s not meant to be an unfortunate representation of reality, but rather a playful interpretation of past glory.”

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Leonardo Scotti

April 12 - 21, 2018
Disco Gufram
Santa Teresa Media Library
Via della Moscova 28, Milano

Opening Photo: ROTGANZEN’S AFTER PARTY COFFEE TABLE, DISCO GUFRAM/em>