Jamie Hayon’s rise to the top of the design tree as the leading proponent of “modern fantasia” has fascinated me as he and a few others have brought mawkish borderline kitsch to the center marketplace. He is one of three designers who were interviewed by Dezeen during Milan Design Week and who expressed concerns about the future of design.
The Spanish designer was interviewed at the opening of his new ceramic collection, a collaboration with the company Bosa Ceramiche, at the Ventura Lambrate 2014 event, during Salone Internazionale del Mobile.
The rather gaudy works above make an interesting counterpoint to his comments. “If I listen to the market, I’ll be designing crap because many times it’s not good taste, it’s excessive.” The lion masks do little to rescue his credibility. And the figurines made for Lladro are even worse.
In his interview with Dezeen he sniffs at those who make, “What people in Dubai, India, the Middle East and Russia want.” Given the cute faces with drooping tongues and a little too much gilding, I would be slapping on shipping labels to Dubai, India, the Middle East and Russia as fast as I could peel and stick. My guess is that his sales numbers in those regions are impressive.
Garth Clark is the Chief Editor of CFile.
Above image: Jamie Hayon’s figures, part of his collaboration with Bosa Ceramiche at the Ventura Lambrate 2014 event at the most recent Milan Design Week.
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Jamie Hayon’s figures and masks, part of his collaboration with Bosa Ceramiche at the Ventura Lambrate 2014 event at the most recent Milan Design Week.
Hayon’s signature flash works much better on “T-Table,” the protagonist of this collection. It’s described as functional, simple, organic and easy to handle and move. It is a small table that can be placed close to a chair, a sofa or a chaise lounge, used both as supporting element or self-standing furniture piece. As an accent in a more austere environment they would work well.
Hayon finds redemption in the bathroom, not the curio cabinet. It’s difficult, except for some gold, to link his work here with the sculptures that began this post. Of this superbly theatrical concept, “Bisazza Bagno,” the designer says:
“(It) Recalls the glamour of the 1930s – the Spanish designer says – with a Scandinavian touch and feminine shapes. Elegance is the main trait of this innovative collection. The bathroom is the most important room in the home and it should not be hidden.With this collection, it becomes an area you want to show, a place you can keep open. The bathroom becomes a stylish room, full of charm and style, with a strong identity.”
He pulls it off, using everything from a ceramic horse head, to gold-glazed lamps, a self standing cabinet for bath functions and a wonderful mirror that is like a reflective Rorschach test. There is genius here, but those figures…
Read Hayon’s full interview with Dezeen
Read “Editorial | Milan Reveals Cracks in the Design Bowl”
Read “Design | Failing the Gender Equality Test”
Read “Design | Marc Newson: Cracks in the Design Bowl”
Read “Design | Marcel Wanders: Cracks in the Design Bowl”
This work feels blank, boring and pretentious.