Fernando and Humberto Campana developed a number of signature pieces and styles that became the focus of the Vitra Design Museum. Because each piece required a lot of hand workmanship, they were produced for private clients and seldom made it to the upscale furniture market. The two Brazilian brothers favor the combination of unusual materials. Taking inspiration from their quill-like “Antibodies” pieces, I’ve selected the humble material of construction paper and combined it with hot glue to assemble mandala like shapes that are easy to manipulate into any position.
The organic nature of working with these simple shapes allows you to construct the headboard in almost any shape or design. To assemble a flower-like antibody, cut the construction paper into one inch strips. Fold the strips in half along their length. You can make your strips of varying lengths and in any or all of your colors. Roll the end and hot glue the paper to itself every half side or quarter side when your circles become large. You will quickly see that the folded side has a textural look while the cut end side creates a flowered appearance.
I chose to demonstrate by making three varying sized pieces this morning in about an hour. To make the pieces into a headboard, simply cut an organic shape out of foam core board. Then hot glue your antibodies directly to the foam board. This will elevate the antibodies off of the wall to create a depth of field. You can smush the antibodies together into tight connection or float them apart to look like they are lifting upward. You can use this same basic quilling technique to cover painted furniture. It is important to mention that you can use almost any type of paper for this project, including magazines and newspaper. Each will produce a unique effect and you can recycle old paper, magazines and books making this a green project.