Tokyo 09: designer Jaime Hayón describes his love of detail in this short interview commissioned for the Tokyo Designers Week guide.

Jaime Hayón  - The Japanese have a great respect for detail, and I live for detail.

"I love beautiful, old-school materials that come straight from the earth. I work a lot with ceramics, which people have using since Roman times. To me, being green is not about recycling or being ecological; it’s about making things that last. Some things claim to be green but you can only use them twice before you have to throw them away. My view is very straightforward. If we make things that last, they'll go from generation to generation with a lot of strength and force. Materials like glass, crystal and ceramics have been around for millions of years and will continue to be, whether we make forms out of them or not.

In September I created a giant chessboard with ceramic chess pieces for the London Design Festival in Trafalgar Square. It was my first art installation that the public could actually play with. Now I’m working on a jewellery store in Kuwait, projects with Bacarrat and designing shoes for Camper. I’m test-driving a pair today!

Working on the new Camper store in Tokyo was a real thrill. I wanted to respect the cleanness of the city, so I created a tiled façade, and a very positive, circus-inspired interior with a lot of colour.

It was a joy to work with the Japanese as they are very precise. They have a great respect for detail, and I live for detail! They apply this to every area of life. To me, the most beautiful thing about Tokyo is the food. It’s about taking the time to do things right. And there’s always a sense of adventure."

Jaime Hayón is an artist and designer.

Photography by Phil Fisk
Art direction by Micha Weidmann
Interview by Malaika Byng

This interview is taken from the official Tokyo Designers Week guide, produced by Dezeen and art directed by Micha Weidmann.

More interviews in this series:

Tokujin Yoshioka
Max lamb
Tom Dixon
Arik Levy
Ilse Crawford
Matthew Hilton
Shigeru Ban

See all our stories about Jaime Hayón here.