Potted plant XXL

Guido Drocco, Franco Mello: Cactus Coat Rack, 1972

It stands in the room as broad-shouldered and as tall as a man. It has a hard steel core coated with soft, bright green plastic.

Italian designers Guido Drocco and Franco Mello designed the cactus as a coat rack: you can throw your jackets over one of its four arms and you can put your base cap or hat on its ‘head’. The green surface is knobbed and so soft that fabrics don’t slip off. The steel core gives the whole thing enough stability so that the Cactus doesn’t wobble when you hang something on it or take something off.

Many designers back then radically questioned the principle that the design of a product always had to follow its function and use. They thought that design also had to do with cheerfulness, fun, wit and attractiveness and not only had to serve a meaningful and good purpose.

During that time, many striking objects were created, especially in Italian design, whose function was not the most significant aspect.