JAIME HAYON, DESIGN SUPERSTAR
Jaime Hayon is one of the most influential and sought-after designers of our time. Get a glimpse of his furniture designs at Studio Dimensione.
Colorful, imaginative, extravagant and elegant: Spanish phenomenon Jaime Hayon’s design is all these things and more. A true chameleon, the young Spaniard combines art, interior décor, and furniture design in his work. In recent years, his exceptional level of professionalism and playful approach has made him a “Design Superstar” and pioneer to a new generation of designers. With his wonderfully unique and unpretentious approach to furniture design, Hayon has repeatedly struck just the right balance between understated, classic elegance and bold modernity.
Hayon was born in Madrid in 1974. After studying industrial design in Madrid and Paris, he was encouraged to join Benetton Group’s design and communication academy Fabrica in Treviso, Italy by a talent scout working for Benetton’s renowned creative director, Oliviero To- scani. At just the age of 22, Jaime Hayon was appointed head of 3D design within 12 months, and led the design department at Fabrica for the next six years. In 2000, while still at Fabrica, Hayon started his own studio, and today he has offices in Valencia, Barcelona and London and counts Fritz Hansen, Magis, Established & Sons, Camper, Swarovski, Bisazza and Baccarat among his clients. Hayon’s unique style was unveiled in the
Mediterranean Digital Baroque exhibition at London’s David Gill Gallery, which was followed by several exhibitions and installations in major galleries and museums around the world like the: Vivid Gallery, Mak Vienna, Groninger Museum, Aram Gallery, London’s Design Museum, Mudac Museum, Gallery Thomas in Munich, Walker art center, Centre Pompidou, as well as the Basel Art Fair, to name a few, attracting the attention of prestigious art collectors worldwide. Today his works are in the permanent collections of some of these institutions.
Time magazine has also named Hayon as one of the 100 most relevant creators of our time, and Wallpaper* magazine has listed him as one of the most influential creators of the last decade. In 2008, Hayon was the guest of honour at Belgium’s Biennale Interieur — the youngest person ever to receive this accolade. Yet, despite his success, the Spanish designer continues to resist habitual thinking. Hayon’s trademark is constant movement, and he is always on the lookout for that indefinable, never-before-seen feature that can bridge the gap between art and design. He is often inspired by circus elements, and his sketchbooks, which he always carries with him, are filled with new, graffiti-like sketches for new designs.
The Spaniard’s furniture is often tailor-made for individual projects, but the seductive, dreamy state he leads us into is common to all his designs. Experts have described Hayon as an “unorthodox functionalist” because of his concern for the conservation of craft skills and his invention of elegant new furniture designs that are often defined by tall, slender forms and richly detailed, organic elements.
We are fortunate that we can experience Jaime Hayon’s creations through Studio Dimensione’s showroom at Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Studio Dimensione exclusively distributes Fritz Hansen, which Jaime Hayon designs for. Seeing his designs is one thing but to actually experience them is a whole new world. His designs are not just elegant but also purposefully made to be comfortable and functional at the same time.
In his collaborations with Fritz Hansen, Hayon has excelled in inventing new takes on furniture design, infusing durability with a rebellious attitude. The result of Hayon’s first collaboration with Fritz Hansen, the highly popular Favn™ sofa (2011), beautifully merged the Spaniard’s spirited expression with minimalist Danish design aesthetics.
Since then, Hayon has designed numerous pieces for Fritz Hansen, including the Ro easy chair, a responsive design that invites relaxation in the midst of hectic everyday life and is aptly named after the Danish word for tranquillity. Other examples of Hayon’s warm, welcoming, flamboyant and humorous designs are the multifunctional table Analog, the easy chair Fri, and the dining chair Sammen.
Hayon’s newest creation for Fritz Hansen is the sculptural and modular Lune sofa. In Danish, the word lune refers to a certain coveted, ideal temperature and the feeling one gets when everything is just right. In short, a perfect combination of Jaime Hayon’s unique style and Fritz Hansen’s tradition of craftsmanship.
Today, Hayon works primarily from his base in Valencia, and continues to break boundaries in modern design, and in recent years has achieved an in-house designer status at Fritz Hansen. Hayon has a profound knowledge and understanding of Danish design’s DNA, and although his designs are ultra-personal and at times extravagant, inspired by his love of color and his creative imagination, his furniture retains a laid-back distance from the surrounding world.
In Hayon’s own words, “Good design should be problem-solving and long-lasting, this goes without saying. But I also make designs for people, to be used by people. I believe that good design should provoke feelings. Design should make you feel comfortable. And design should generate happiness.”
Studio Dimensione is at One Parkade, 28th St. corner 7th St., BGC, Taguig. Call 736-3728, email studiodimensione1@gmail.com , follow on IG @fritzhansenstore_manila.