May 2009
The Brazilians Humberto Campana (born in 1953) and his brother Fernando (born in 1961) have worked together as furniture designers in Sao Paulo since 1989.
Humberto came to the partnership as a self-taught artist with a degree in law while Fernando had been trained as an architect. The first joint work of this unequal pair – brutalistic, surrealistic furniture sculptures – caused a sensation in the Sao Paulo art scene right from the start.
Over the past twenty years, they have established themselves among the most well-known and successful designers of our times, implementing their distinctive and individual language of objects in a tremendously wide-ranging oeuvre of furniture, lighting and installations that has been recognized in numerous publications and exhibitions such as at the Experimenta in Lisbon, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the London Design Museum.
The Campanas’ “Favela” and “Vermela” armchairs, both produced by the Italian furniture manufacturer Edra, the “Banquete” armchairs created by hand in small series in their Sao Paulobased studio, as well as their inflatable table or the “Plastico Bolha” easy chair made of bubble wrap – each of these objects rapidly became an icon of contemporary design.
However, due to the fact that much of their creative work results in these limited series or one-off pieces that often are produced as private commissions, little is known of the true variety and scope of their oeuvre, which has been augmented in recent years by a number of spectacular works.
Furthermore, only few attempts have been made to date to trace the guiding principles of their complex body of work.
At the same time, the Campanas’ career coincides with the international success of unique, custommade and accentuatedly artistic designs which often go directly from the maker’s studio to private or public collections without ever being subjected to a regular use.
In fact, Fernando and Humberto Campana are perhaps the most prominent exponents of this trend.
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