The Campana Brothers (Humberto Campana and Fernando Campana) are Brazilian designers.
In 1983, the two brothers teamed up to make furniture made of ordinary materials including scrap and waste products such as cardboard, rope, cloth and wood scraps, plastic tubes and aluminium wire. From 1997, some of their products including the Vermelha chair began to be produced and sold in Italy.
Inspired by Brazilian street life and carnival culture, the Campana Brothers combine found everyday objects – such as scraps of wood and furry toys – with advanced technology to create a vibrant, energetic and specifically Brazilian approach to design.
Their cues come from everyday scenarios and, using unexpected combinations of found materials – such as rubber hose, tissue paper, string or fabrics, Fernando and Humberto Campana transform mundane materials into objects that celebrate the discarded and are instilled with the spirit of contemporary Brazil.
Neither of them intended to be a designer. Humberto, born in the Rio Claro area of São Paulo in 1953, originally studied law but began to design furniture in the mid 1980s after Fernando, born in Brotas in 1961, had completed his degree in architecture.
“He had the capacity to understand design,” said Humberto Campana. “Design is not just about functionality: it’s about concepts, getting a reaction, not following trends, following your own heart. That’s something that I learned from him.”
In 1998 the Campana Brothers became the first Brazilian artists to exhibit their work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, along with German lighting designer Ingo Maurer. The Campana Brothers are represented by Friedman Benda in New York, Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London and Paris, as well as Galleria O in Rome.