Edra

With twenty years experience at the top-end of the design market, Felice Bucci and Tiziana Reato are key purveyors of contemporary furniture and fittings. Always ahead of the trend, their showroom AD'Architettura d'Interni is located in a 1940s building designed by Marcello Piacentini in Rome's central Via Bissolati and offers a wide range of innovative products from Design's halls of fame. The showroom itself is deliberately neutral. So the white walls and ceiling and the light-coloured wood flooring are the ideal stage for Fernando and Humberto Campana's Historia Naturalis, the collection that takes its cue from Brazil's riotous natural vegetation. Historia Naturalis will be AD'Architettura d'Interni's key feature, starting January 22 for a month. The pristine backdrop highlights the fascinating -and somewhat disquieting- outlines of Kaiman Jacaré, a frameless composition of irregular padded shapes forming what looks like a tangle of alligators; Aster Papposus, a frameless chair made of two similar components, one on top the other, forming a huge starfish in which to sit supported by enormous tentacles; and the twisting, looping tangle of the Boa sofa that invites you into its seductive embrace. Historia Naturalis is a story that unfolds before your eyes. It tells of the "genius loci" of Brazil, its luxuriant vegetation and generous, invasive, enveloping shapes. It speaks of dank swamps like the caiman-infested Pantanal whose turbid waters also harbour the enormous starfish, Aster Papposus. Of clammy mists that seep into the skin. The Campana creations have a primordial quality that invites physical contact. The upholstery, including crocodile-print leather, artificial furs, and a sleek, scaly fabric in shimmering colours, enhances the collection's inherent sensuality. Highlighting the Campana brothers' voluptuous tropical narrative, Emilio Tremolada has photographed Kaiman Jacaré, Aster Papposus and Boa against a murky, almost muddy background. They seem to rise out of the clammy Pantanal mists through which the sensual shapes of entwined bodies can also be glimpsed. These outsize photos form a stunning backdrop to the items on show. Although the products speak for themselves, the inaugural evening on January 24 will see Fernando and Humberto Campana and Edra's Art Director, Massimo Morozzi, take the stand to explain an extraordinary meeting of minds: between a Tuscan firm, proud of its traditional values, and two Brazilian designer brothers, who although now citizens of the world, are still profoundly linked to their roots, going back regularly to draw inspiration. They will illustrate their very special brand of design that can weave stories to touch our senses as well as our emotional chords.