Modern Commercial Seating

All people have stories to tell and the way they choose to tell their stories is almost as much fun, entertaining, or educational as the stories themselves. The Transplastic furniture series from Brazilian brothers Fernando and Humberto Campana is one good example of a form of expression. They tell a story that encompasses the topics of Brazilian ecology and Brazilian décor.

What the brothers did was to integrate common plastic chairs and natural fibers, an intriguing contrast between the synthetic and the natural. It’s like the fibers are growing from the plastic, overpowering it. It’s reminiscent of how jungles in various parts of the world swallow up man-made structures after they are abandoned.

A fiber called apui was used to create the pieces in this collection. It’s actually good that this kind of fiber was utilized because apui grows on trees and suffocates them. The furniture illustrates this process somehow, showing the fibers’ parasitic characteristics. The collection also touches humorously on how Brazilians have come to use plastic furniture more over wicker, and this is the Campana brothers’ way of gently nudging attention back to traditional wicker pieces, by hybridizing them.

All furniture items in the Transplastic series are handcrafted and follow organic shapes. They are really rather attractive and would make for very interesting bar chairs: they are an engaging mix of the modern and the traditional. They would probably need to undergo special finishing to make them sturdy enough for commercial applications.These chairs and other pieces in the collection were showcased a few months ago at the Albion Gallery in London, England.

The Campana brothers are among the most popular designers in South America and their reputation has spread worldwide. They have designed numerous other pieces, and it would be so interesting to find out the stories behind those.