BRAZILIAN DESIGN BETWEEN EXPERIMENTATION AND MARKET  Interview with Fernando and Humberto Campana Experimentation and market; where's the balance? There has to be experimentation to present an evolved product. Without research there's no solution. Without a solution, there's nothing new. Brazilian design: sunny, very expressive, use of "poor" materials; what remains of these creative origins in your designs? We keep all of these strengths (seen as directives) in our designs. It is here that our concepts and thoughts germinate. Materials classed as "poor", combined with an economically poor country and developing technologies have guided our creation (and that of colleagues in other fields) to the development of solutions with very particular construction techniques and forms. These have always become possible after several attempts and adaptations. Sometimes implementing tradition which is difficult for industry... and Italian companies are always incredibly willing to interpret them. This also answers your first question. Experiment to solve. You work for a Tuscan company, Edra. What does Tuscany represent for you? Which lifestyle does it express? Edra is definitely the company that has always been willing to translate the desires expressed by our souls. They were the first to devote time to attempting to interpret our way of expression. For instance, we can remember that when we tried to explain the way to build the Vermelha chair, we sent a video, because we would never have managed to achieve a good technical result with a drawing. This mentality is what has made Edra what it is today. One of the most important companies on the international market. It has always had a strong character and has refrained from following trends, setting its own, even when the market seemed to be speaking a completely different language. This attitude is very similar to ours. Always faithful to our ideals, believing in them completely. As far as Tuscany is concerned, we can say that it is very similar to our birthplace (considering the historical and geographic differences). We come from an Italian family and, fortunately, the influence is strong and clear. Lastly, what design challenges mark the future and how do you see your work progressing over the next few years? We look at our work as constant evolution. We live for today because we don't know what the world will be like tomorrow. The only thing we are certain of is our creativity, to which we are very attached and with which we are very involved. Everything changes so quickly and without a definite direction, as though a number of different things are running in different directions in an attempt to reach the same destination. We aren't particular linked with forecasts. Our life in Brazil has taught us that change can be violent and fast (either positively or negatively). Edra Via Livornese Est, 106 / 56035 Frazione Perignano - Lari - Pisa - Italy www.edra.com FontanaArte Via Alzaia Trieste, 49 / 20094 Corsico - Milano - Italy www.fontanaarte.it O Luce Via Cavour, 52 / 20098 San Giuliano Milanese - Milano - Italy www.oluce.com

Text by: Giuseppe Lotti I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. In cooperation with: Maria Angeles Fernandez Alvarez Elena Granchi Sonia Morini TOP