Designer Dive: Jaime Hayon's Whimsical World
It’s an unusual sight to see a carousel encrusted in 15 million Swarovski crystals against a quiet Austrian countryside. Called Carousel, the permanent installation at Swarovski’s Kristallwelten is unusual in other ways too - Jaime Hayon created fictional black and white characters in a modern style to replace the horses that are traditional to carousels. “The Carousel provokes feelings of freedom and joy - it is an art piece in movement and a place where imagination starts,” said Hayon. To many, Hayon's work might seem like a temporal aesthetic, but when you start to look across his entire career, things start to make sense.
Jaime Hayon's collaboration with crystal house Swarowski in 2019 gave birth to Carousel. (Source: Hayon Studios).
Into the Mind of Jamie Hayon
Born in Madrid in 1974, Jaime Hayon was passionate about skateboard culture and graffiti art. These influences are easily found in his whimsical and punchy works. After his studies in Madrid and Paris for industrial design, he joined Fabrica in 1997. In less than 10 years, Jaime broke out on his own and began his journey as a designer, first with designer toys, ceramics and furniture.
Times magazine included Jaime Hayon as one of the 100 most relevant creators of our times
To the uninitiated, it is a bit confusing whilst researching about the famed Spanish designer - he has been described as having baroque, minimal decorative, neo-surrealist and surrealist styles. But Hayon, 46, can’t even explain his style "Give me a break—I'm just myself, doing my own work." Instead, if we look comprehensive at his comprehensive work - from functional items such as cabinetry or a couch, to sculptures and installations, you see a common narrative, not defined by style, rather by concept.
Medium Conversation Vase, a limited edition creation by Jaime Hayon
Jaime Hayon takes the fairy-tale world inside his head and translates it into the designs we know and love. This blurs the line between what is art and what is a product - and his ideas continue to amaze and cheer up collectors and viewers alike. Times magazine included Hayon as one of the 100 most relevant creators of our times and Wallpaper magazine has listed him as one of the most influential creators of the last decade.
Jaime Hayon has worked with Lladró and Baccarat in multiple projects, as he finds porcelain and crystal to be a great platform to execute his ideas on, and that both ateliers have the technical skills required to bring his designs to life accurately.
"It is absolutely telenovela," Hayon said, laughing. "When I go into the Lladró archive, it's like an Almodóvar movie, with the man looking this way, and the horse looking that way. It's fun. The figures are really sculptural and really beautiful. I played around with them in a decorative way, so you're like whaaaaaah!"
Lladró: The Guest Numbered Edition by Jaime Hayon
Jaime’s numbered edition take on The Guest is playful, with an asymmetrical take on the details. Both 'ears' have opposing details, both 'eyes' are different. The details on this piece, together with the modern colour way of gold, white, black and yellow makes it easy to use in any space, non-intrusive in the aesthetic of your space, until one looks closer at it, just like how any Jaime Hayon piece should be. For a comprehensive guide to the entire The Guest collection, click here.
Lladró: Embraced
Created a decade after The Guest, Embraced is Jaime Hayon’s poignant response to the modern global mental health crisis. Reflecting the designer’s knack for evolving his art alongside societal shifts, this sculpture moves away from the blank-canvas individuality of The Guest to focus entirely on the universal necessity of self-love and emotional care.
Designed to trigger an emotional response of reassurance, Embraced features a whimsical character literally wrapping its arms around itself—a perfect visual reminder to embrace your authentic self. Highly collectible due to its contemporary aesthetic and powerful message, the sculpture is available in vibrant open-edition colorways like yellow and pink, as well as an ultra-rare, numbered limited edition of just 250 pieces worldwide.
Lladró: The Fantasy Collection
The Fantasy Collection is the cumulation of Lladró’s classic style and Jaime Hayon’s playful sense of fantasy. Loosely playing with the theme of Love, Jaime Hayon designed a character, Lover, and the many scenes of his journey of love and the themes of family, made permanent by the sculptures of this collection.
The Fantasy collection includes pieces such as Family Portrait, The Rocking Chicken Ride, and Lover Figurines.
Lladró: Conversation Vases
With elegance and carefree attitude, love inspires this vase collection in which the faces that decorate each of the sides have a mysterious conversation between themselves. It’s very Alice in Wonderland, and like how a deck of cards has 4 suits, the Conversation Vases each has 4 faces, each with a distinct personality and expression. A piece that will definitely create conversations at every dinner party you host!
Conversation Vase I, Conversation Vase II, and Medium Conversation Vase Limited Edition by Jamie Hayon.
Lladró: Clown Table Lamp
Crafted in glossy white porcelain, the Clown Table Lamp reimagines a classic circus motif through a minimalist, avant-garde lens. Standing at 60 cm tall and topped with a clean white glass shade and a gold lustre nose detail, the piece balances sculptural expression with utility, transforming a childhood icon into a high-end design statement that brings a sense of joyful fantasy to any contemporary interior.
Lladró: Embraced
Baccarat: Faunacrystopolis Sculptures Limited Edition
The Faunacrystopolis Collection of Animal Sculptures reinterprets the traditional animal bestiary through a lens of surrealism and modern fantasy. This limited-edition series features a happy tribe of six crystal creatures each standing on a marble base. Hayon’s design language is evident in the play of geometric volumes and the electric shades of crystal, where deep bevel cuts and circular patterns catch the light to give each animal a distinct, almost mischievous personality.
FROG (top left). FOX (top middle). RABBIT (top right). OWL (bottom left). KOALA (Bottom middle). MONKEY (bottom right).
Jaime Hayon’s role in the project was to inject his personal sense of humour and narrative strength into silhouettes defined by softness and roundness. He worked closely with the master glassmakers in Lorraine to experiment with horizontal honeycomb cuts and vibrant colour layering. These sculptures are not merely decorative; they represent a bridge between Baccarat’s 250-year-old glassmaking heritage and Hayon’s contemporary Art Toy aesthetic, with each iteration limited to just 25 numbered units worldwide.
Baccarat x Lladró: Faunacrystopolis Harcourt Tea Set
The Faunacrystopolis Harcourt Tea Set represents a rare and whimsical meeting of masters, merging Baccarat’s crystal artistry with Lladró’s porcelain expertise. The set features a teapot with a pristine Lladró porcelain body decorated with subtle geometric patterns and delicate gold lustre. The true Hayon touch is found on the lid - an imaginary, faceted creature crafted in Baccarat crystal that adds a sense of surrealist joy to the ritual of tea. Accompanied by two iconic Harcourt crystal glasses, this collaboration celebrates the joy of living in a functional tableware form.
Baccarat: Baby Candy Light Nomadic Cordless Table Lamp
Drawing inspiration from the vibrant, textural world of traditional confectionery, the Candy Nomadic Lamp features a heavy, diamond-cut crystal diffuser that sits atop a sleek, colourful ceramic base available in white or red. Its nomadic functionality is powered by an integrated LED system and a rechargeable battery, allowing the user to carry its warm, refracted glow from a dining table to a garden terrace without the constraint of cables.
Baccarat: Zénith Faunacrystopolis Chandeliers
The Zénith Faunacrystopolis Chandelier represents a daring transformation of Baccarat’s most legendary icon, the 19th-century Zénith chandelier, through Jaime Hayon’s mischievous lens. In this limited edition of 50 units, Hayon breaks tradition by introducing stripes to the Baccarat lighting repertoire for the first time, featuring bamboo arms and balusters crafted in a rhythmic spiral of blue or red and clear crystal. Topped with 24 honeycomb-cut Candy Light lampshades inspired by confectionary, the chandelier sheds the rigid formality of classical lighting in favour of a joyful, surrealist energy.
For other designer dives:
- Designer Dive: Arik Levy's Multidisciplinary Design Ethos
- Marcel Wanders: The Alchemist of Emotion, Craft and Modern Fantasy
- Mokuren Chandelier - Eternal Bonds of The White Magnolia – FormFluent
- Crystal Light: Lalique x James Turrell
- Designer Dive: Damien Hirst - Infinite Possibilities for the Art Elite
