Slideshow: Making Trans… chair

Fernando and Humberto explain their TransPlastic series as a fictional story wherein, in a world made of plastic, synthetic matter eventually becomes fertile ground for transgenic creations in which nature grows from and eventually overpowers plastic.

The Trans… chair, the final piece in the Campanas’ TransPlastic collection, was designed especially for Cooper-Hewitt and is featured in Campana Brothers Select. The Trans… chair is entirely woven in wicker, marking the end of the battle when nature has virtually completed its domination of plastic. Reinforcing this confrontation, the chair expels iconic plastic elements from its wicker structure. The woven wicker element of the chair serves a dual purpose by uniting with the underlying theme of woven materials in the Campanas’ exhibition.

"The chair was designed as if it was eliminating the plastic, the parasite, showing nature’s rebellion."
—Humberto Campana

Campana Brothers Select: Works from the Permanent Collection is on view February 15–September 28, 2008.