Interview with Fernando and Humberto Campana / Part 2/2

In the second part of the interview with the Campana brothers, Humberto and Fernando Campana, talk about their backgrounds, how they work together, why they admire Oscar Niemeyer, what they would love to design that they haven’t yet, and future projects. This video also features images of the installation they created for Design Miami 2008, entitled Diamantina, an evolution of their TransPlastic series. Fernando and Humberto Campana explain:

This project grows out of the TransPlastic series, where we have sought the purity of form inspired by grottos and caves. It is our own journey to the center of earth, like Jules Verne’s book. Complementing this idea, Diamantina is built in a way that the seats are sculpted along the form creating a new mode of comfort and interaction. Proposing a more subtle connection, it is a more meditative kind of experiment.

The inspiration for the name alludes to the precious stones incrusted into the piece, and is also the name of a small town in the central part of Brazil. There, all different kinds of stones and crystals are sold like candy on the street markets. The city is ugly and seems as if it was lost in time, continuing to live quietly on the heart of Brazil. By its mixture of materials, both poor by the wicker and precious by the combination with the natural amethyst, as the city, Diamantina piece evokes the same sensation of long forgotten poetry.

Fernando and Humberto Campana have been working together since the mid-1980s. Scheduled for Summer 2009, the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein near Basel is preparing a retrospective called Antibodies. Works by Fernando & Humberto Campana 1989 – 2009 (the exhibition opens on the 16th May, 2009). The vernissage will take place on the 10th June 2009 (first day of Art Basel) with a Brazilian party at the Vitra Campus.

Interview with Fernando and Humberto Campana, part 1/2. Design Miami 2008. December 2, 2008.

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