KAWS x Campana: an unprecedented collaboration supported by Friedman Benda

What happens if KAWS, the most pop of the living artists, collaborates with the Campana brothers, the celeb couple in design experimentation? The result is dazzling, especially if Marc Benda, founding partner of Friedman Benda, one of the most interesting American design galleries on the contemporary and international scene, is in charge. At Design Miami 2018 they have presented the irreverent and ultra-pop result of this new collaboration. Following the line of the Botolas collection, a series of seats covered with plush leather designed in 2016 by the founders of Estudio Campana (Fernando and Humberto Campana), the street-artist KAWS – born Brian Donnelly – decided to have one of his iconic characters reproduced in the form of a puppet.

The little plush toys, black or pink with round eyes and pink nose, gather helplessly on metal structures. And their bodies, sometimes gently resting on the structure to become a comfortable backrest, sometimes fall into the void. At first glance it is the most tender and childish of gestures, but as often happens in pop culture, criticism of our society is hidden just around the corner.