Brazilian Design

SPECIAL GUESTS C A M P A N A B RO T H E R S FER NA ND O CA M P A NA [ 1961] & HU MBERTO CAMPAN A [ 1953] The Campana brothers, Humberto and Fernando, are one of the best known contemporary design duos in the national and international scene. Humberto Campana, despite having graduated in law, started a sculpture and jewellery studio in the 1980’s. Fernando Campana joined his brother in 1984 after graduating in architecture from the Faculty of Fine Arts in São Paulo. In 1989 they made their first exhibition, Desconfortáveis, which displayed iron chairs that confronted the lack of identity in Brazilian design during the 20 years of military dictatorship. This exhibition represented not only the start of the Campana Brothers’ career but also the beginning of a new trend in Brazilian design.

Humberto and Fernando, spent their childhood in a small town in the countryside and at the age of 18 moved to São Paulo. The antagonistic experiences of rural life and the urban chaos of São Paulo are some of the sources of inspiration for the duo. Avid observers of society, they redefine aesthetics by noticing the creativity of the poorest sectors of the population in using recycled materials to create utilitarian objects that go beyond their formal role, crafting in the process symbolic messages of a culture. Their work has experimental and innovative aspects, especially concerning the choice of resources. They use materials such as bathroom drains, PVC pipes, soft toys and many others.

By using these objects out of context and added to other materials with completely different characteristics, they gain a new life and unexpected form.

Since 1989 the Campana brothers have taken part in several design exhibitions such as their solo show at MoMA in 1998 and the retrospective of their works [more than 150 pieces] at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany between May 2009 and January 2010. Several of their works are part of the permanent collections of the Vitra Design Museum [Weil am Rhein, Germany], the Centre Georges Pompidou [Paris, France], the Museum of Decorative Arts in Montreal [Canada], the Association Vadoz and Jacqueline Bruno Danese [Milan, Italy] and from the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo. In 2008, Design Miami awarded the Campana Brothers with the Designer of the Year prize.