Core77

The International Herald Tribune today runs a feature on Jaime Hayon, who they describe as being "among the most visible of a new generation of designers who have rejected the modernist role of the designer as a problem-solver in favor of self-expression."

His disinterest in modernist convention is partly generational and partly nationalistic. There is no industrial design tradition in Spain, which left him free to develop his own approach after being introduced to design through his teenage obsession, skateboarding and its graphics. He studied in Madrid and Paris before spending five years at Fabrica, the design research center funded by the Benetton fashion company in Treviso, northern Italy, where he stayed for five years, launching the Qee series of graphic toys while he was there.