Humberto and Fernando Campana

Humberto and Fernando Campana were born in Brazil, in the state of São Paulo, in 1953 and 1961 respectively.

Humberto graduated in law from the University of São Paulo in 1977, while Fernando studied architecture at the São Paulo School of Fine Arts, graduating in 1984. They also attended an industrial design course at the Brazilian Museum of Sculpture.

In those years they began working together, experimenting with and making furniture in metal.

From the very beginning they worked on the boundary between art and design, taking part in international exhibitions and workshops with handmade pieces. Their most important solo shows include:

• "Desconfortáveis" (The Uncomfortable Ones), São Paulo, 1989;
• a retrospective in Rio de Janeiro, 1999;
• "Never letting the poetry escape", Tel Aviv, 2003.

In 2000 they took part in the Saint-Étienne Design Biennale and in the "Blow Up" exhibition of the Vitra Design Museum in Berlin.

In 2002 they featured in the exhibition "Milan in a Van" at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

In 2003 they held a solo show at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil in Brasília and took part in Experimenta in Lisbon and in an exhibition in Stockholm.

In 2004 they designed the "ideal house" for the Cologne furniture fair, and the Design Museum in London celebrated them with the exhibition "Zest for Life".

Their most important group shows include "Projects 66: Campana/Ingo Maurer" at MoMA in New York (1998) and "Air en forme" at the Musée de design et d'arts appliqués contemporains (mudac) in Lausanne.

Their designs play with shapes, materials and colours, without forgetting the lessons of the past, and give rise to objects and collections full of poetry, dreams and optimism, rich in meaning. They often start from humble or recycled materials, such as scraps of wood, rope, tubing and soft toys.

They have worked with many Italian companies, including Oluce, FontanaArte and Cappellini. For Edra they created some of their most important designs, such as Vermelha, Anemone, Boa and Favela; they have also worked for Alessi and Vitra.

Their work is held in some of the world's leading museums. In 2004 they designed fashion accessories for Firma Casa in São Paulo and for Melissa, a Brazilian company from Rio Grande do Sul.

Fernando Campana died in 2022.

Among their most significant designs:

Favela (1991) - chair - Edra

Vermelha (1993) - chair - Edra

Boa (2002) - sofa - Edra

Zig Zag (2005) - screen - Melissa

Blow Up (2005) - centrepiece and candle holder - Alessi