Milan 2010: Brazilian designers Fernando and Humberto Campana have designed a range of furniture for Italian brand Edra, including this storage unit entirely concealed by dangling lengths of raffia.

Called Barbarians, the collection was shown in Milan earlier this month and features a sofa, table, pendant light, coffee table and cabinet and shelving unit.

See more furniture from the Campana brothers in our earlier story.

See all our stories about Milan 2010 in our special category.

Here's some more information from Edra:

“BARBARIANS”

The Barbarians are what it’s all about for edra during Milan’s 2010 Salone del Mobile furniture fair. The presentations, taking place at the Fiera Milano exhibition centre in Rho and in the edra showroom situated in via Ciovassino 3 (in the heart of the Brera quarter), are both staged by art director Massimo Morozzi. This tribute to the Barbarians refers to the populations who in the early part of the first Century AD, helped to bring down the stultifying empires of the Western world, laying the groundwork for the Europe of today. Pulsing with passion and drive, fresh blood and daring, they ventured forth from the furthest outposts of the known world to occupy the heartland.

Becoming kings of peoples, and, as many of today’s academics claim, marking the end of the classical era and the beginning of what we call the modern era. Metaphors aside, edra’s plan is to give a contemporary twist to the theme of natural materials and colours, sharing the same passion and drive, the same “blood” and the same da ring as our Barbarian forefathers. Using colour as a design matrix, on a quest to conquer the centre of the earth, fire and the forests. Like hordes advancing hell for leather, eyes wide open, admitting no hesitation and no turning back.

The results couldn’t have anything less in common with classic interpretations. The edra stand at the Fiera Milano venue shines the spotlight on new products only, in a bewildering array of different versions, against a matt black backdrop that allows the products to speak for themselves. In the downtown showroom, instead, edra’s products are presented within an uncompromisingly white space.

The upper floor hosts a replica of a tribal village featuring a handful of new products, while the lower floor houses edra’s entire collection, setting today’s timeless favourites alongside tomorrow’s classics.

The impluvium linking the two floors, at the very heart of the space, is visually dominated by a site-specific installation: a huge cluster of 15 Campana chandeliers, the latest lighting objects designed by Fernando and Humberto Campana. Three brand new Fernando and Humberto Campana designs are also making their debut for edra, displaying the usual remarkable confidence in form and usage of materials: the Cabana container, the Campana lighting sculpture and the Cotto table. Another new product from edra is the Brenno sofa – a large, supremely comfy offering from designer Francesco Binfaré.

The Cabana is a storage unit arranged around a central column supporting five shelves: the structure, in aluminium and other metals, is entirely concealed by dangling lengths of fire-proofed raffia. The Campana is a lighting unit assembled out of around 180 variously shaped pieces of laser-cut glossy anodised aluminium. Each piece is absolutely one of a kind, as the parts are assembled quite randomly. The Campana suggests the form of the object inspiring it, but in a lightweight, ecosustainable metal, aluminium, which can be recycled an infinite number of times with no loss of quality. The light source in the centre is ideal for illuminating table-tops and interiors.

The Cotto is a table with a stainless steel structure and legs, and an ultra-thick aluminium top. The tabletop is set with eight large, variously shaped and textured chunks of treated terracotta. Underneath, each chunk is marked “Made in Italy” and “Hand made”. The Cotto table takes terracotta to a whole new level, light years away from anything reeking of “rustic”. edra’s terracotta speaks of the Etruscans, Brunelleschi and the Medici. The Cotto table effectively bridges the design process with edra’s Tuscan roots, where unrivalled local artistry offers up its very best to create a ground breaking new product.
With its thought-provoking visual impact, the Cotto table will enhance any indoor or outdoor setting.

Brenno: a sofa in specially treated natural leather. Cutting edge processing technology gives the design a particularly soft, yielding appearance. The frame is in plywood and metal and the stuffing is in Gellyfoam covered with a thick layer of goose down. The leather upholstery is generously plump by design, affording the kind of welcoming softness and comfort that appeases the eye even before the body. A few classic members of the edra collection have been given a facelift, now making specific reference to gold, a precious metal dear to the Barbarians for taking up very little space for the value of money.

Peter Traag’s Sponge armchair, with its pressed wrinkles creating a unique pattern for each piece, is featured in gold leather, as are two of the nine Attila cushions in the 2010 version of the iconic Cipria sofa, that scored such a success last year, by the Campana brothers, in eco-fur (here in natural and brown). The Leather Works seat, also by the Campana brothers, has been re-upholstered in a special new leather. Harking back to the shining theme of the 2009 collection, is the Scrigno storage unit by the Campana brothers, in three new versions: a settimino 7-drawer dresser, a chest of drawers and a small storage unit.

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Campanas for Edra at Milan 2009	our special category	All our stories about the Campana Brothers