Crystal Candy by Jaime Hayón
The range was presented in Paris at trade fair Maison et Objet, which ended yesterday, and at the Baccarat Salle de Bal on 22 January.
Pieces are produced in a limited edition of 25.
Here's some text from Hayón:
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Crystal Candy Set for Baccarat
The opportunity to research and exercise creative possibilities along with Baccarat led to the creation of the Crystal Candy Set. The approach was guided by the search for exquisite color and material combinations.
With these pieces, I wanted to replicate the richness of fresh tropical fruit using crystal and other materials, such as ceramics. Using a variety of textures and thicknesses, a new game of reflection has been accomplished with each of the 9 characters that make up the collection.
Diverse crystal cutting techniques can be appreciated throughout the collection. They result in a series of soft, feminine shapes with touch of humor. Fruity inspirations are mixed with gemlike features: pineapples, pomegranates, golf balls and water drops are some of the ideas explored.
"Reencontres" is a valuable platform where an artist joins one of the worlds most representative and prestigious traditions in cut crystals, Baccarat, to explore their heritage and the future possibilities of this tradition.
It was a great honor to be invited to join Baccarat in this venture. My work has always been characterized by a constant concern for preserving and updating traditions.
I find that in doing so, clues and keys to our history are found, and that these clues are essential to understanding where the future may lead. The Crystal Candy set was presented at the Baccarat Salle de Bal, in Paris, on January 22nd, 2009.
Here's a press release from Baccarat:
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In Jaime, you can almost hear the word “gem.” And that’s a good way to characterize artist and designer Jaime Hayon. Half-conquistador, half-imp, this adventurer of design embraces life with an extraordinary creative zest, an immediate empathy for his nearest and dearest, and an infectious vitality. Skipping from one language to another in a heartbeat, he simultaneously chats in English as well as French, Italian and Spanish, all with a singular nonchalance and ease.
Jaime is a man of the present and the future, a decidedly optimistic mutant, equipped for a world with a brighter tomorrow.
Born in Madrid thirty years ago, this Almodóvar of design is on a ceaseless quest for encounters and new lands. The paradox arises from the overlap of this free-wheeling spirit and his inspirations, drawn entirely from the sensuality of his background: fragrances, sounds, languages, visions of childhood and his Iberian roots.
The primary colors, the excess, the organic baroque shapes of the furniture and ceramics, the manga-meets-Iberia “toys”: his imagination flows as freely as a stream from the tip of a colored pencil or brush with the talent of a master draftsman.
Jaime Hayon is a generous artist, and his work distills everything that has crossed his path. Like an ethnologist of shape and material, he explores nature and people in equal measure, transforming them though the prism of his unbridled flights of creativity—his free spirit radiates most brilliantly in the scenographies that fully express his exuberance and joie de vivre.
The recent monograph on his work, published by Gestalfen, captures the full range of his prolific and eclectic work.
Form, style and color are deployed with a rare mastery, whether in his partnerships with companies as diverse as Arquitect, Bisazza, Camper, Bosa, Metalarte, Palluco or Bernhardt Design, with the collaboration of his companion, Nienke Klunder. His “Rencontre” with Baccarat is typical of this atypical talent.
This masterful stylistic undertaking between colored cut crystal or pieces engraved with gold and metallic ceramics successfully bridges the gap between sumptuous transparency and velvety opaqueness. Hayon’s sense of humor reframes the importance of his creation in a limited edition of monumental works. The “Crystal Candy Set” can be enjoyed to excess; with this exceptionally beautiful work, Baccarat once again demonstrates its extraordinary creativity.
Chantal Granier
