MONKEY BUSINESS – THE FUNTASTIC WORLD OF JAIME HAYON

The right design school, getting the right client, innovating in a particular material, style, etc. usually top the checklist for a successful career as a designer. Well, not if you’re Jaime Hayon – whose career is built not out of a particular school of thought or innovation, but from a seemingly single-minded curiosity about the world. Hayon, 32, is known for taking the fairytale world inside his head and projecting it onto a number of products - from whimsical chickens to dreamy installations. The Madrid-born designer also exhibits his sculptures in art galleries, often blurring the line between art and design.

Having recently opened his second installation of interactive monumental outdoor sculptures at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, the Spanish talent continues to wow the world with a range of fanciful pieces that mystify the eye and the brain. Hayon can boast one of the most glittering careers to be boasted in the recent history of contemporary design. Having grown up admiring Salvador Dali and regularly visiting Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” at the Reina Sofia Museum, Hayon studied Industrial design and thereafter, went to work at Fabrica, the Benetton-funded design and communications academy in Treviso, Italy. He branched out in the early 2000’s to set up his own studio.

Hayon’s “Tiovivo”, at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art

In Jaime Hayon’s magical world, colourful poultry takes centre-stage. The Spanish designer’s wildly imaginative and playful Green Chicken Rocking Chair, which was inaugurated in 2008, is arguably his most famous design. He has described his early years as full of “green chickens and other crazy products”.

The Green Chicken Rocking Chair, 2008

Two years ago, Atlanta’s High Museum of Art acquired the chair for its design collection. Now it is hosting for the second time, a major public alfresco installation by Hayon, the “Merry Go Zoo” – featuring a veritable menagerie of geometric, animal-like figures.

“The sculptures in my work are joyful and positive and inspired by playfulness”, Hayon says of the outdoor project, which feels like an other-worldly amusement park.

With Merry go Zoo, he has taken the concept of playful sculptures a step further, creating gigantic pieces with rotating parts that visitors can ride. “I’m hoping they can spread some joy”, Hayon says of them.

Hayon’s first solo show, 2003’s “Mediterranean Digital Baroque”, at David Gill Gallery, London, included painted murals, tall cactus-shaped ceramics, diminutive bird figurines, and a “supersonic pig” sculpture with a gigantic nose reminiscent of the front of the Concorde.

“Mediterranean Digital Baroque” at David Gill Gallery, London

There’s a futuristic simplicity to some of his designs, such as his subtle, plush sofa for Fritz Hansen, pelican-inspired decanters for Bosa, and the cabinets with four differently shaped turned-wood legs. Others are ingeniously imaginative – like his ceramic sculptures for Llandro, hybrid Duck-Elephant multi-vase, clocks that seem to be melting and his “Hopebird sculptures” created for Bosa.

“The Guest” sculptures for Llandro Atilier

Hayon’s “Hopebird Sculptures” for Bosa

Prolifically creative, Hayon typically crafts many elements of his work himself. Last year, he designed the interiors for the renovated Barcelo Torre de Madrid Hotel – a project close to his heart and situated in his hometown. Guests are welcomed in the lobby by a towering sculpture of a striped bear tipping a golden top hat, inspired by the Spanish coat of arms.

The colourful interiors are replete with Hayon’s curvaceous furniture pieces, which recall one of his major influences, Josef Hoffman. Offbeat details are scattered throughout, including a giant striped bear tipping his top hat at arriving guests.

“You are working with humans and humans have bad days. If you drink the whole night, the thing you made perfectly yesterday is not so perfect today. This is how sophisticated working with humans can be.” As Jaime Hayon says, “Mistakes are good.”