Campana Brothers 'Cake Stool' at Themes & variations
Review and Analysis
London
The Themes & variations gallery based in Notting Hill has announced their newest addition to the shop - the 'Cake Stool' by the Campana Brothers.
The Brazilian design duo selected various predatory animal stuffed toys fusing them together to form a chair that resembles the corner of my childhood bedroom.
The work is challenging on many levels.
Firstly, as often with the Campana Brother's work, I keep flipping from loving it to hating it and back again. My pragmatic side dismisses the work as a pile of stuffed animals, however my idealistic side urges me to reconsider my aesthetic notions.
Beyond the look of the chair, I am interested in the brother's choice of using predatory animals as the bulk of the design. Do they find humour in the soft representation of the animals we often fear? Perhaps they have created the chair to 'work through' this fear of these animals - sitting as a means of conquering...
Or, it is also entirely possible that there was a sale on stuffed predatory animals at Rihappy* in Brazil.
It sees as though I am not the only one that hasn't made up their mind about the Campana Brothers. I consulted the DeTnk Market Report Database and pulled out the sales data for the designers.
When comparing the estimated yearly sales totals to the actual sales totals, we see that the works fetched prices far below the estimates every year except 2005 and 2007.
Also when looking at the total sales brought in each year, we see that their is no steady pattern of growth. There was a lot of excitement in 2007 which has been waning ever since.
When looking at the lots offered vs lots sold, we see that the demand for the Campana Brothers is somewhat steady; with a slow trend of more lots being bought-in each year.
Over all, for contemporary designers, we see that the duo are forging their path within the collectible design market. They are creating challenging work that has excited collectors.
If you are looking to buy a Campana Brother's piece as an investment, I would warn you that they are a high risk option. However if you have become one of the many emerging Campana Brothers fans, then you should head to Notting Hill before their number 59 (of 150) limited edition chair sells out.
* a Brazilian toystore
Campana Brothers: Lots Bought-in vs Lots Sold
Campana Brothers: Totals Sales vs Estimated Total Sales
Cake Stool by Campana Brothers
