Fernando and Humberto Campana: Treasures from Wicker, Splinter, and Pieces of Cloth

(silvie luběnová) The Antibodies exhibition opened in the Vitra Design Museum on Friday. Visitors can look forward to something truly grandiose – the selection of the most unbelievable works designed by brothers Humberto and Fernando Campana from Sao Paulo.

Everybody knows that they design weird objects with weird names for international companies – for instance, the block-like manually assembled chair, the famous caterpillar sofa for Edra, the spaghetti jackstraw bowls for Alessi, a variety of bizarre seating objects, inflatable furniture for MoMa, and the wall pocket for Vitra Edition. Nevertheless, works that are designed in Estudio Campana no doubt prove the brilliance, absolute madness, and boundless creativity of brothers Campana. Moreover, the human dimension and odd beauty encompassed in every object that their studio launches are simply perfect!

Their furniture, lights, accessories, and objects typically use a variety of different materials, although mostly Brazilian and very recyclable. Their combination is eccentric, novel and seemingly reinvented. The most simple “construction” principles and methods have a somewhat surreal appearance. They excel in this! We really appreciate that.

The Antibodies retrospective exhibition will definitely lead visitors to examine their process, to explore Brazil, and to discover the studio where old rugs and textiles are torn into pieces, straws are glued together, and where one can throw various treasures into melamine boards from which chairs that are named after the Campanas’ mother Celia are made. Old pieces of cloth are also torn and animal bodies are glued together here… Please come in. One can see prototypes, countless experiments, and one-off pieces.

www.campanas.com
www.campanas.com

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