Humberto Campana was born in Rio Claro, Brazil in 1953, and his brother Fernando was born in Brotas, Brazil in 1961. Neither brother set out to be a designer - Humberto studied law, Fernando studied architecture – but in 1983, they began to collaborate on handmade furniture and objects, often working with found or mundane materials readily available in their surroundings. Over the years, they have built an international reputation for their ingenious re-use and re-invention of commonplace odds-and-end, such as rope, aluminum wire, plastic tubing, fabric remnants, and stuffed animals.
Today, the transformation of materials remains at the heart of the Campanas’ practice. They continue to produce work in their own São Paulo-based studio, as well as working with manufacturers such as Edra, Alessi, Fontana Arte, and Cappellini. Their work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, including Design Museum London, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Vitra Design Museum in Germany.