Based on our encounter with Fernando and Humberto Campana at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum earlier this year, we think it would be difficult for them to get much happier and more excited about design, but we're confident that they'll find a way. We've just learned that the Brazilian brothers will receive the Designer of the Year award at Design Miami in December. The Campanas will create a special installation for the fair as well as a VIP lounge for its principal sponsor, HSBC (and who better than VIPs to sit on stuffed sharks; lots and lots of stuffed sharks?).

The Campanas' Design Miami installation will be an evolution of their "TransPlastic" series (a chair from that series is pictured above), which Humberto previously described to us as "a battle of nature with plastic. It's the revenge of wicker!" Entitled "Diamantina," the December installation will introduce native Brazilian amethyst crystals into the woven structures, resulting in a series of biomorphic islands on which visitors can sit. "The inspiration for the name alludes to the precious stones incrusted into the piece, and is also the name of a small town in the central part of Brazil," commented the brothers in a statement issued this afternoon by Design Miami. "There, all different kinds of stones and crystals are sold like candy on the street markets. The city is ugly and seems as if it was lost in time, continuing to live quietly on the heart of Brazil."

Previously on UnBeige: