Humberto Campana on Sustainability, Recycling, and the Metamorfosi Collection

Humberto Campana, one half of the Brazilian design duo Campana brothers, has launched Metamorfosi, a collection of unique, large-scale pieces made from Paola Lenti's fabric scraps accumulated over nearly three decades. Presented during Milan Design Week, the collection was created in collaboration with a social tailoring workshop in Como that trains at-risk individuals, including asylum-seeking migrants. Campana discusses his lifelong commitment to recycling, rooted in his rural upbringing in São Paulo state in the 1950s, and his inspiration from Lina Bo Bardi, who taught Brazilians to value their vernacular culture. He also details the work of the Instituto Campana, founded 13 years ago to preserve endangered crafts and aid disadvantaged communities, and his project to create a botanical park in Brotas to combat deforestation from intensive agriculture. During the pandemic, Campana planted 20,000 native trees and created collages from architecture and design magazines. The Metamorfosi collection, produced under Paola Lenti srl., was photographed by Stefano Pavesi and Sergio Chimenti.