Corallo Chair

Fernando and Humberto Campana, designers based in São Paulo, Brazil, are recognized for work that draws inspiration from the culture of their city and the rich tradition of handicrafts made there. Known for transforming freely available waste materials such as bubble wrap, off-cuts of wood, plastic piping, and rope into furniture and other products, the brothers are keen to situate the craftsman’s skills at the center of their projects. In some of their designs, the Campanas use cast-off materials in a way that invites social commentary; in others, they combine rigid steel and informally layered everyday elements, suggesting the confluence of Modernist aesthetics and popular culture that is constantly at play in their work. Corallo Chair, their most ambitious piece to date, illustrates their interest in operating at the frontier of art and design. Made of bent steel wire and painted bright coral, each chair is handcrafted, ensuring that no two are the same. The branchlike form, taken from shapes found in nature, is a response to the chair’s function as an outdoor seating element. Ultimately, however, what anchors the Campanas’ efforts is a divine optimism that something beautiful can result from limited means.