Jaime Hayon
Don't try to categorize Spanish designer Jaime Hayon. "In one article, I was baroque, neo-surrealist, surrealist and minimal decorative," says Hayon, who once posed for a magazine dressed as a sheep carrying a papier-mché wolf's head. "Give me a break—I'm just myself, doing my own work." Hayon, 32, is known for taking the fairy-tale world inside his head and projecting it onto any number of products—from cabinets for furniture company Bd Ediciones de Diseo to sinks for Spanish bath manufacturer ArtQuitect. The Madrid-born designer, who also exhibits his sculptures in art galleries, often blurs the line between art and industry. For the installation featuring his line of furniture for Italian mosaic company Bisazza at this year's Milan furniture fair, he built a giant, Pinocchio-like butler, covered in mosaics, serving up his cabinets, tables, mirrors and vases. It was hailed as the highlight of the show, and it wouldn't have looked out of place at Art Basel, the renowned international art fair.
Hayon, whose energy and enthusiasm are infectious, has more eclectic ideas in the works. Upcoming projects from his studio, which he opened in 2001 while still working at the Benetton Group's communications think tank Fabrica, include a line of shoes and a retail space for Camper, a Villa Moda store in Dubai and a customizable chandelier for Swarovski. His work, including his art directorship at Spanish ceramic company Lladr, where Hayon is breathing new life into its figurines, is not just about design. "I'm trying," Hayon says, "to show my life through these projects."