Sean and I made it over to Lladró last night for the unveiling of Jaime Hayon's Fantasy line of porcelain figurines. The line draws on a fantastical reinterpretation of traditional Lladró themes - love, family, childhood, the circus...Several of Jaime's existing projects made it into the collection - his Cactus sculpture, the Green Chicken rocking chair, the Showtime Poltrona arm chair, and even his line of Camper shoes - Jaime calls this "positive contamination" from his world to Lladró's. Prices range from $400 - $3,300 (yowza!).
It was interesting to hear Jaime speak about the process of making the figurines. With a background in industrial design, he had to be both teacher and student when working with Lladró's craftsmen - teaching them his style, while at the same time having to adapt his designs to accommodate what is physically possible with porcelain. The Lover (above, right) ended up with a bird on his head, not just because all great statues are humbled by the whims of birds, but also because it was necessary in order to keep the figurine straight when it went through the firing process.
The Rocking Chicken Ride - directly inspired by his Green Chicken.
The Love Explosion - mixes in the Showtime Poltrona arm chair with the Lover as he tries to woo a lady.
The Cactus.
Jaime's new monograph was featured at the opening, too - it looks really great, with tons of process sketches showing how he conceived of the different ideas.
I love Lladro and have been collecting for years, but I have to say I don't have too many pieces of the fantasy collection.
ReplyDeleteI love the clowns and have not seen these. The shoes are so unique :-)