SACRED GROUND

As one half of Estudio Campana, Humberto Campana built a reputation for elevating found objects into playful furnishings. We visit his new São Paulo studio as he embarks on a solo career

- BETA GERMANO GREEN

Approaching Rua Doutor Miranda de Azevedo, in the bucolic São Paulo neighbourhood of Vila Anglo Brasileira, it is already possible to perceive from afar that there is something fresh and unusual. Here is the new studio of Humberto Campana, who, alongside his younger brother Fernando, saw poetry in cloth dolls and other humble materials from Brazil’s interior, elevating them into collectible design. Working together for four decades, the Campanas became the leading lights of Brazil’s design scene and gained widespread international recognition. Thus, Humberto’s solo career, following the death of his brother last November, has been the subject of great speculation and anticipation. Despite their eight-year age difference, Humberto and Fernando looked like twins, and could well have been a single person. The two were often inspired by the same object, even if they encountered it at different times, and they shared the same thoughts and often arrived at the studio wearing identical clothes. They left their old studio when the owner decided to sell, and moved to the new studio last November, shortly before Fernando passed away.