Fernando Campana

Brazil, b. 1961

Place of BirthBrotas, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

BiographyBased in São Paulo, Brazil, Estúdio Campana is an international design studio founded by Fernando and Humberto Campana. Born 1953 in Rio Claro, São Paulo, Humberto studied law at the University of São Paulo partly because of the restrictions placed on artists and intellectuals under the military dictatorships that lasted from 1964-1985. Fernando, born in Brotas, São Paulo eight years after his brother, trained as an architect at the São Paulo School of Fine Arts. In the 1980s, the brothers began their partnership and started designing furniture.

The Campana brothers look to the environment around them for ideas. Their designs constantly innovate with and feature recycled materials, often revealing new functions for discarded things. Today, the brothers create furniture for Edra and Alessi, and they recently partnered with Disney, Phillips de Pury & Co., and the Albion gallery to create The Cartoon Chairs, a series of chairs made from Disney character plush toys. The work of the Campana brothers is featured in many collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, Canada; Vitra Design Museum, Germany; and the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Brazil.