Stage was a major solo show from rising Spanish designer Jaime Hayón opened at The Aram Gallery during the London Design Festival 2006.

 

One of the most exciting and increasingly significant figures in new Spanish design, Hayón has an exuberant energy and a striking personal style all of his own. Although he has been involved in a number of eclectic projects, Hayón is probably most celebrated for his exclusive furniture collections and theatrical installations: a range of sleek, glossy bathroom fittings for Artquitect; a surreal cactus-like collection of sculptures in flesh-pink, petrol blue and black that he calls Mediterranean Digital Baroque; and most recently the Showtime collection for Spanish company B.d, which includes, roto-moulded chesterfields embellished with leather and multi-leg sideboards in boldly coloured lacquered wood.

 

Hayón is dedicated to preserving and progressing the workmanship of the artisans he works with. He doesn’t believe that the old and the new should be polarised, he loves the sophistication of defects and often modifies his designs by hand to create individual art pieces. His designs are far from conventional and he cites lost worlds and classic MGM musicals among his inspiration.

 

The exhibition at The Aram Gallery explored how this prolific designer ignored the borders between fine art, craft and design and used experimentation, artistic research and his own artisan style as a stage to create many commercially viable projects, triggering further inspiration and leading to his next production.

The Aram Gallery is dedicated to presenting experimental and new design. A keen interest of the gallery is to explore the relationship between creative experimentation and commercial production.