Colour is a difficult art,” says Jaime Hayon. He would know – the 51-year-old Spanish designer, painter and ceramicist is famed for creating joyful objects that celebrate vibrant hues and quirky forms. But colour is also one of the principles that reign supreme in his vividly decorated apartment in central Valencia, where I’ve come to meet him on a sunny autumn afternoon.
Hayon welcomes me with freshly brewed filter coffee (one variety of many in a well-stocked pantry). He first discovered this property, he explains, while having a drink at a vinyl store and bar across the street, when he spotted a For Sale sign on the fifth floor of this early 1900s building. It offered space, light and location – but the flooring was what really had him smitten. “It’s very typical of the Mediterranean,” he says, as we admire the mosaic effect created by countless hydraulic cement tiles in a variety of shapes, colours and geometric arrangements.
When Hayon bought the flat in 2019, its shabby condition meant many individual tiles were missing from the flooring, so he searched far and wide for appropriate replacements. He points to some of the odd-ones-out, which differ slightly in tone from those around them. “I like that it’s imperfect,” he says, “because it has life.” The flooring also provided an inspirational colour palette for decorating. “I looked at the ground and projected the house upwards from there,” says Hayon, who spent a year fixing the place up. He painted the hallway ceiling mustard yellow and its doors crimson red, for instance, to mirror colours found in the tiling.
Spanning 140 sq metres, the apartment’s rectangular layout is constructed around an opening in the middle for the building’s inner, open-air courtyard, meaning that natural light floods the core of the property. The windows looking in on this void also allow you to see from the rooms at one end of the apartment to those at the other: “A bit of voyeurism,” as Hayon puts it. A long corridor connects the two wings: one houses the living room, kitchen and two main bedrooms; a guestroom and a more formal dining and lounge space are found on the other side. “In Mediterranean stately homes,” he says, “there was always a winter living room and a summer living room.”
This division is emphasised by the movement of natural light throughout the day: morning coffees are sipped in the sunshine of the east-facing balcony, while the warmer evening glow in the lounge is perfect for dinner parties. The layout also functions to optimise for temperature across the seasons. “It’s built this way so that you can live in Valencia,” he says, “which is hot in summer and humid in winter.”
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The main living room is a cabinet of curiosities filled with Hayon prototypes that were later produced by major brands: a walnut dining table he designed for Wittman; a glossy red coffee table for &Tradition; and a yellow Lune sofa, his first design for Fritz Hansen. The ensemble reveals the trial-and-error phases of the designer’s experiments, some charmingly rough around the edges – like a powder-pink armchair for Ceccotti Collezioni, whose wooden frame Hayon gives a hard whack to fix back in place.
‘When I arrived, it was chaos – and real chaos is the most creative thing there is. The house has to be alive’: Jaime Hayon
There are lamps and vases he made with Italian ceramics atelier Bosa, while his first rug for Barcelona-based Nanimarquina lies on the floor, featuring a topsy-turvy arrangement of objects, animals and human figures. Other pieces are exclusive, site-specific creations for Hayon’s home – like a lacquered sideboard with curved edges and a marble countertop. “It’s the piece that people will fight to get their hands on once I’m dead,” he says with a smile.
Hayon’s own handiwork aside, the space also houses treasures he’s acquired from around the world: a clay bust from Morocco, a porcelain geisha from Japan and a crocodile statuette from Thailand; masks from Mexico and Korea are displayed in the hallway. Other wall pieces show how Hayon’s design principles of colour and irregularity extend to his taste in contemporary art. There’s a striking painting by New York-based artist Pepa Prieto hanging in the lounge, its explosive colours, abstract shapes and organic motifs echoing the room’s decoration.
Protoypes of Hayon furniture and art pieces in the main living room
Born in Madrid, Hayon has now lived in Valencia for around 15 years, following stints in Barcelona, Treviso, New York and London. “Valencia has always been very productive,” he says, pointing to the industries that have historically thrived here, from textiles to ceramics. The city is now also a hub for contemporary design, named World Design Capital in 2022 – but what first lured Hayon here was its authenticity. “I wanted a place that was real,” he says.
His sons, 12 and 14, now spend weekends with him at the flat; one of them arrives from school as his father and I enjoy lunch seated on Gaudí-inspired kitchen chairs designed for the Italian furniture brand Magis.
The youngsters also fuel the designer’s creativity: the green Dino armchair in the lounge, designed for BD Barcelona, was inspired by Hayon’s dinosaur drawings for his kids. “I’m always drawing,” says the artist, snatching a notebook from the bookshelf that is full of his sketches, “but the light has to be good.”
We’re now in the second lounge space, used more for day-to-day living than for entertaining, where an L-shaped sofa from Arflex sits against a large bay window populated with plants. “I wanted to create an orangerie,” he says, gesturing around to the room, “where the light could shine, the plants could live, and I could draw peacefully.”
Hayon also has a residence back in Madrid but Valencia is now home – and he’s seen the city evolve while here. “When I arrived, it was chaos,” he reflects, “and real chaos is the most creative thing there is.” In this flat, the designer has found a space for the warmth and vitality that he craves. “The house has to be alive,” he says, “and a little bit wild.”
See more at hayonstudio.com