Since 1983, the brothers Fernando (1961) and Humberto (1953) Campana have been solidly building their career achieving both national and international recognition. Their work incorporates the idea of transformation and reinvention. Giving preciousness to poor, day-to-day or common materials carries not only the creativity in design, but also very Brazilian characteristics – the colors, the mixtures, the creative chaos, the triumph of the simple solutions.
Based in Sao Paulo, Estudio Campana is constantly investigating new possibilities in furniture making. It creates bridges and dialogues where the exchange of information is also a source of inspiration. The work in partnership with communities, factories and industries keeps the freshness of Estudio Campana repertoire.
In 1998, curated by Paola Antonelli, they exhibited in New York MoMa, the “Project 66”, their first international show in a duo with Ingo Maurer. The idea of the exhibition was to join two designer of very distinct back ground that shared the same poetics. With the Vermelha Chair, also in the year of 1998, they sealed their first partnership with edra, in Italy. From then on, each year new products and concepts are launched in collaboration with both international industries – edra, Alessi, Fontana Arte and national – Grendene.
Nowadays, their pieces integrate permanent collections of renowned cultural institutions such as the MoMa in New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris or the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany. Among the various awards they received in December 2008 the "Designer of the Year Award” from Design Miami.
In 2009 the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein (Germany) acknowledged the significance of the Campana brothers’ work with a retrospective staged by Mathias Schwartz-Clauss. The Vitra hosted the exhibition from 16 May 2009 to 28 February 2010, reporting a huge success among critics and visitors alike. The show then moves to the NAiM/Bureau Europa Maastricht (NL) from 14 March to 6 June, and the Triennale Design Museum in Milan (Italy) from 15 October to 15 January 2011, with a possible stopover at La Coruña in Spain.
The Campana brothers, in their years with Edra, have always considered the material with which each piece is realized as a value unto itself. From the wooden slats of the Favela chair, to the long strands of raffia of the Cabana container, to the curved stainless steel of the Corallo chair or the 120 meters of velvet tubing of the Boa sofa. And now there’s Grinza, which has a steel tube frame and polyurethane padding, with great expanses of leather or eco-fur draped softly over the structure.
