Jaime Hayon talks to Mandi Keighran about his new ’Favn’ sofa for Fritz Hansen and this year’s Milan fair.

“The whole process started with wanting to have a sofa designed in 360 degrees. Lately they have done a lot of sofas that are square, and me, I’m not square at all – I’m Spanish, I like round things, I like organic things. The shape is very feminine and elegant, and it took a long time to be sure which curves to take… the little leg makes it light. We made about 11 prototypes and it took 3 years to make.”

 

“There is one shell all around the sofa, no matter where you look at it, it’s a perfect shell. [This process] for me is the strength of Fritz Hansen, and for me they’re also number one in stitching. I’m proud to say I always observe the strengths of the companies I work for.”

 

“I believe this piece is one of the first pieces that truly fits the classic furniture of Fritz Hansen.”

“This chair was really complicated, because normally when you do a sofa you have all these different textiles; what we tried was to create a selection of 10 colours that I made… Normally, you go to a shop, you want to buy a sofa and you get nuts because there’s the long one, the short one, all the colours… so here I’ve made the lives of a lot of people easier!”

 

“It’s quite difficult to choose the 10 colours. I wanted one very Scandinavian, which is the grey one; one very elegant, which is the pearlish one (actually, this is the one I have in my home)… Black is more classic, violet is more shiny… I wanted to have a piece you could fit anywhere.”

“The 3 materials are all tested to be resistant to different functions. The back cushion you can wash easily, the pillows are tested for the feel and is softer, and the shell is much harder and hard wearing. There’s a lot of ideas meeting functionality”

 

“I’m really proud this year of what I’m launching at Milan. This Milan is very exciting. Everything that’s shown this year is quite well thought. 3 years ago was when everyone realised that it needed to calm down. The world of design was getting a little bit nuts, and I was also part of that. Last year, you could already see there was a lot more intelligence in design. And now, you are starting to see people really concentrate. I’ve seen some very nice stuff. There’s more thinking going on; you start to see the results of thought.”

 

Hayon Studio
hayonstudio.com

Fritz Hansen
fritzhansen.com