Interview with the Campana Brothers: "Cork has been an incredible experience!"
Until August 19, the Campana Brothers’s first collection of cork-based furniture objects will be on display in São Paulo. The Sobreiro collection, consisting of three cabinets and an armchair, marks the Campana Studio’s first participation in Experimenta Portugal, whose 2018 edition was dedicated to Portuguese-Brazilian art and culture.
During the design process, the Campana brothers immersed themselves in Portuguese culture and reality, through a visit made by Humberto Campana to Portugal in January, 2018, where he discovered elements that best represent the local identity.
“Travelling to Portugal connected me with my roots. The experience of the trip was amazing, because it made me far more aware of my Portuguese heritage. We’ve always been fascinated by cork, not only because it is an ecological material but because of its lightness. Cork’s texture, variety of applications and insulation properties enrich the possibilities of using this material, in order to express new concepts and gestures” commented Humberto Campana.
The brothers realised that cork - a very important product of Portuguese culture and one of the country’s main export materials – was the ideal material to develop items of furniture with a solid design, that could be simultaneously curvilinear and light.
According to Cristina Amorim, Director of Corticeira Amorim: "It’s a great privilege for Corticeira Amorim to be able to work with the Campana Brothers on their first project using cork. We have a longstanding appreciation of the work and creativity of what we consider to be one of the world’s leading design studios.”
The original works were produced with support from Corticeira Amorim, who served as both adviser and supplier of the different types of cork used in the collection and the furniture company Época, which coordinated production of the items. The project also involved the city of Paços de Ferreira, one of Europe’s largest furniture production clusters.
This partnership culminated in the Campana Brothers Exhibition, which opened last weekend, in the Consulate General of São Paulo, in the framework of the programme of activities in tribute to the Day of Portugal.
About Experimenta Portugal ’18
In its fourth edition, between May and June 2018, Experimenta Portugal offered an extensive calendar of events, encompassing a wide array of different artistic, musical and cultural creations and expressions, in different spaces and iconic cultural venues in the city of São Paulo, illustrating the current unique moment of connection and collaboration between São Paulo/Brazil and Portugal
Campana Studio
Founded in 1983 in São Paulo by the brothers Fernando (b. 1961) and Humberto (b. 1953) Campana, Campana Studio has become renowned for its design and furniture works created in an intriguing and creative manner, such as the Poltrona Favela (image) . Today, the studio works with a wide range of projects, such as interior design, architecture, landscaping, stage design, fashion, art, etc. Campana Studio’s work incorporates the idea of transformation, reinvention and integration between crafts and mass production. The studio offers a design that has its own distinctive identity, combining the individuality of each material with the preciousness of the common characteristics of Brazilian everyday life - such as colours, mixtures, and the creative chaos.
