The Campana Brothers

Humberto and Fernando Campana (1953 and 1961, respectively) gave the symposium “Design and local production” at the TEA. The Campana Brothers base their work on craft techniques. In a world where technology is championed, they go for tradition, identity, local media and local resources. This way of understanding design coincides with the objectives that TDF supports: design as an end but also as a way of promoting local artists, materials and landscapes.

The projects of these artists range from DIY to the reuse of natural and industrial materials. One of their designs which has caused the greatest impression is the Favela chair, made out of small pieces of wood stuck together in the same way that is used to build the “favelas”, shanty towns in Brasil.

Their works are based on respect for the environment and the use of natural materials. What is important in their work is not aesthetics or functionality, but the materials, which they shape in original ways that always break the norms.

They have worked for the most prestigious brands in the world, using concepts of recycled design and a variety of everyday materials to create objects, which more than furniture look like sculptures. Their works have been exhibited in the MOMA in New York, in the Pompidou Centre in Paris, in the Vitra Museum in Germany, in the Modern Art Museum in Sao Pablo and in many other art centres.

For this reason, it is no coincidence that the Campana Brothers have been the patrons of the TDF, as they exemplify better than anyone the three main principals on which the festival was based: local identity, landscape contrasts and tourism.