The Wall Street Journal goes to Venice with the Campana brothers as they oversee the creation of the glass for a chandelier that will inaugurate the Waddesdon Contemporary Art and Design Gallery:
At this point, it is Humberto, often the quieter brother, who leaps into action. The glass dolls are modeled on the traditional cotton dolls handcrafted in the Brazilian town of Esperanca, and Humberto is determined that these glass versions will have precisely the stance he desires. He hovers over the molten vase, directing the glass workers to tilt the legs this way, to splay the feet that way. Fernando comments excitedly, “It is one thing for Venini to reproduce perfection, but to reproduce the imperfection of those dolls is incredible.”
A liberating embrace of imperfection is one of the hallmarks of the Campana brothers. Based in Sao Paolo, though of Italian descent, the brothers first emerged onto the international scene in 1993 at the Milan Furniture Fair, with their sumptuous “Vermelha Chair,” a nest of red cotton ropes on a stainless steel structure. In 2008, they were elected Designers of the Year at Design Miami, where they created a mountainous, haphazard seating landscape out of natural fibre and amethyst. This year, they are exhibiting work with several different manufacturers at the Milan Furniture Fair, represented perhaps most prominently by models and plans for a pavilion they have designed for Champagne maker Veuve Clicquot.
Capmana Adventures in Glass and Light (Wall Street Journal)
