Campana is the company founded by brothers Humberto (b. 17 March 1953) and Fernando (b. 19 May 1961). Their São Paulo-based office, Campana Objetos, has become renowned worldwide in the past five years as one of the most interesting ateliers for the design and production of contemporary furniture. In fact, their work has won them numerous awards. They received first prize in 1997 within the category of "Móvels Residencias" for Inflating Table and second prize in 1998 for Labirinto Bookshelf from ABIMOVEL (Associação Brasileira da Indústria Móvel).
Curiously enough, neither brother had planned a career in design. As a matter of fact Humberto studied law, while Fernando got a degree in architecture. Humberto's inborn passion for sculpture and manual work, however, slowly mutated from a hobby into a serious endeavor. Fernando, on the other hand, provided both ideas and knowledge of the design process. From the start, Humberto would get the feeling for materials and forms, and Fernando would make them real. In 1984 they took their first steps with small objects, like photo frames and ashtrays, using all materials they could experiment with.
A trip Humberto took to the Colorado River provoked a first daring collection of iron chairs. Adriana Adam and Maria Helena Estrada, the two Brazilian ladies of design, curated in 1988-89 the first Campana exhibition at Museo de Arte de São Paulo.
The next jump occurred in 1994, when the Campana brothers visited for the first time the yearly Furniture Fair held in Milan. They returned to Brazil determined to move their focus from artists' furniture to real design, and to find an international language to express their roots. Their progression from thought to action is documented in this show.
Selected bibliography on
Fernando and Humberto Campana:
Mel Byars (ed.), Tropical Modern. The Designs of Fernando and Humberto Campana, Acanthus Press, New York 1998
Adélia Borges, "Irmãos Campana brasileiros e universais," in Board Magazine, No. 17, August 1998, pp. 42-46, 48, 50-51.
Enrico Morteo, "Brasile: Humberto e Fernando Campana," in Interni 482, July-August 1998, pp. 74-81.
Maria Helena Estrada, "Subjetos, ou a tentativa de reverter valores," in Arch Design 3, Dec. 1997-Jan. 1998, pp. 24-29.
Mel Byars, 50 Tables: Innovations in Design and Materials, Rotovision, Hove, England 1997, pp. 78-81.
Philippe Starck (ed.), International Design Yearbook 12, London: Laurence King, 1997, pp. 53, 94.
Mel Byars, 50 Chairs: Innovations in Design and Materials, Rotovision, Hove, England 1996, pp. 48-49, 90-91, 124-126.
Marco Romanelli, "Fratelli Campana," in Abitare 351, May 1996, pp. 202-204.
Brigitte Fitoussi, "Intérieurs portrait: Fernando and Humberto Campana designers brésiliens," in L'Architecture d'aujourd'hui 302, December 1995, pp. 110-115.
Marco Romanelli, "Designs from 1991 to 1994," in Domus 757, June 1994, pp. 56-61.
Humberto & Fernando Campana
"I have always been fascinated by the light bulb because it is the perfect meeting of industry and poetry. The bulb is my inspiration," says Ingo Maurer, outstanding poet of light and lightness in the design world. His encounter with the light bulb happened in 1966. By then Maurer, a typographer and graphic designer who trained in Switzerland and Germany, had spent several years in the U.S. working for Kayser Aluminum and IBM. In 1966, back in Europe, he designed a lighting fixture for an installation at the Herman Miller showroom in Münich. It was entitled Bulb and was a bulb within a bulb. It was so successful he had to produce more to match the demand. The company called Design M was thus established. Design M later mutated into Ingo Maurer GmbH, and the company produces to this day both Ingo's fixtures and the work of other ingenious designers.
While working as a designer for his company, Maurer is often involved in installations and architecture and "urban scenography" projects. Such projects range from bridges in Köln, to an art installation in the airport in Münich, to the lighting of a superb Middle Ages painting exhibition in a church in Prague.
Recent articles on Ingo Maurer:
ID Magazine, January/February 1998.
Ingo Maurer, Ingo Maurer introducing The Mamo Nouchies: A New Tribe of Light, Ingo Maurer GmbH, Münich 1998.
Lighting Design, October 1997.
Intramuros, August/September 1997.
The Guardian Weekend (London), June 28, 1997.
Design Diffusion News (Italy), June 1997.
Driade Edizioni (Italy), April 1997.
Axis (Japan), March/April 1997.
Blueprint (England), March 1997.
Financial Times (London), March 1-2, 1997.
International Design Yearbook 1997.
The New York Times, January 30, 1997.
Helmut Bauer (ed.), Making Light, Nazraeli Press, Münich 1992.
Ingo Maurer