LLADRÓ – A LEGACY OF PORCELAIN ARTISTRY
Lladró was founded in 1953 when Juan, José, and Vicente, three brothers born of local farmers and endowed with great artistic talent, formed a small family company in the Valencian village of Almácera, Spain. Since then, Lladró has undergone an amazing metamorphosis from an artisan workshop to a huge firm of international scope enjoying continual growth. The company management has remained in the hands of the Lladró family, the owners of the firm, since its inception.
The creative team started out by adapting styles from past eras, but it was not long before certain characteristics appeared that would soon shape what was to become the unique Lladró style. In addition to their particular attributes in terms of form and color, the essence of Lladró sculptures is found, above all else, in the kind of human warmth that the sculptures convey. Just as before, today’s Lladró artists create works in accordance with a stringent artistic process, maintaining the highest quality as well as preserving the essence of the founding brothers.
Today, Lladró is staffed by more than 1,000 employees, the majority of them at the City of Porcelain, a complex on the outskirts of Valencia where all pieces are created. Lladró distributes its creations to more than 120 countries on five continents. The main export markets for Lladró products are the USA, the UK, and Japan
Since opening its first retail outlet in Valencia in 1955, Lladró has expanded its network of proprietary stores located in main shopping centers around the world: London, New York, Beverly Hills, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Tokyo, Sydney, Las Vegas, Miami, Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, the Company’s home city.
In 1988, the Lladró Museum and Gallery opened on 57th Street in New York City. Housed in a building that represents the urban charm of the 1920s is the largest collection of Lladró creations anywhere in the world, and it includes many artistic works by the Lladró brothers from their early years. Some of the world’s most prominent museums exhibit the most significant Lladró sculptures in their permanent collection, such as The Hermitage museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia and the Royal Art and History Museum in Brussels.
A long series of awards pays tribute to the Lladró oeuvre, among them the Prince Felipe Prize for Business Excellence. This award is the most prestigious that can be bestowed upon a Spanish company. The revered Lladró brand and accomplishments have ranked it among the first Spanish brands known worldwide.
LLADRÓ PRESENTS THE NEW CREATIONS FOR THE FANTASY COLLECTION BY JAIME HAYON
THE FANTASY BY JAIME HAYON
Fantasy and functionality come together with the new pieces that the Spanish avant-garde designer and artistic advisor of the brand, Jaime Hayon, adds to The Fantasy Collection. Like the rest of the collection, these new creations are based on the concepts of imagination, illusion and innovation, core values of the philosophy of the porcelain brand from Valencia, and now combined with the personal style of Jaime Hayon and his original conception of artistic creation.
The Clown Lamp – New 2009
The imaginative world of the circus is also the muse for this fun new creation. The golden nose calls out to be touched and works as a dimmer. Inspired by one of the clowns originally designed for the Italian studio Bosa, this lamp is another example of how the world of imagination, the unexpected and the surprising impregnates all the creations in The Fantasy and transform them into something that, over and beyond their decorative potential, awake a sense of fantasy. In this case, the reminder of childhood is combined with the functionality of the object as a lamp. And it is this perfect balance between expression and function that make these pieces such highly priced objects.
Cufflinks and Earrings – New 2009
An example of how porcelain can step out onto the street as fun fashion accessories. In these cufflinks and earrings, the expression of the faces, an essential characteristic of Lladró works, takes on various forms that bring to mind different characters, evoking classic clowns, sophisticated balls of Venetian masks or the Italian Commedia dell’arte. An expression as real as life itself is achieved thanks to a careful study of detail. It is all about “really” dressing up the human being, with real experiences that are part and parcel of everyday life.
The Love Explosion
Hayon´s whole world comes together in this piece. The character of The Lover woos a lady sitting in the portrona chair from the Showtime Collection, a series of sophisticated objects for the home created for BD Ediciones de Diseño and inspired by classic Hollywood musicals. The chair is included in the decoration of the exclusive Casino de Madrid, an interior project signed by Hayon.
The Lover I, II & III
Like all the pieces in The Fantasy, this series is based on the fusion between one of Lladró´s core themes, love, and the playfulness and fantasy that Jaime Hayon brings to his designs.
With its elegance and unhurried attitude, this character expresses the ideal of balance in love. As Hayon presents it, “this figurine is outstanding for its style and class, making it cross the boundary of the purely decorative to show a modern and balance love in its futuristic and organic design”.
The Masquerade I, II & III
The world of the circus and the charm of Japanese toys were taken as the inspiration for the creation of these original candleholders, which have also been adapted as vases. An excellent example of how the world of the imagination, the unexpected, the surprising, impregnates the creations in The Fantasy and transforms them into objects which, over and above their decorative potential, evoke sensations and feelings. In this case, the memory of childhood, a time of fantasy, is combined with the functionality of the object as a candleholder. The expressiveness of the decoration is further enhanced with the use of the reds, blues and turquoises created especially for the collection. The candles themselves have also been made specifically in the same colors as the piece. And it is this perfect balance between expression and function that makes these pieces such highly prized objects.
Conversation Vase
Jaime Hayon borrows an object that has been a constant presence through Lladró´s trajectory, to create an original vase inspired by seminal pieces from the beginning of the 20th century and vases from the age of splendor of porcelain. Given its size, this vase is a sculpture in itself. What is truly outstanding in this object, more than the function, is the expressiveness achieved in the decoration. The expressive strength is transmitted by the faces of the vase, in which four faces communicate among each other as they tell a story of fantasy, magic and splendor.
The Family Portrait
An admirable example of the positive cross-polination of Hayon’s style is a creation based on one of Lladró´s core themes: the family. This family scene is conceived as a microcosm in which everything is minutely studied, as if it were a scene from a movie. Each detail has been focused on individually, extracting the maximum meaning. The furniture, the clothing… everything has something to say. Each element is designed specifically to narrate a story where the decoration is put at the service of the feelings that each character conveys. Once again, the expressiveness of the Japanese toys was the source of inspiration for a piece that connects with the world of collecting.
The Rocking Chicken Ride
This is unquestionably one of the most original pieces in the collection. Based on a symbolic element in Jaime Hayon’s career, the Green Chicken, this creation is a mix of surrealism and humor, a nod to pure fantasy.
Childhood, one of the core values in Lladró´s catalog, is shown to us as a world in which everything is possible. The unexpected element is this green chicken which we are surprised to see in Lladró. In fact, Lladró had to create a new color in its corporate palette specifically for this piece. This fusion of a universal value and a groundbreaking design awakens the fantasy of the beholder.
Cactus
Similarly to the previous creation, this piece is also based on one of Jaime Hayon’s seminal icons, a cactus, whose design marked the past and present in his career. A composition to which he adds birds, a representative element of Lladró´s work. With this recreation in Lladró porcelain, Hayon pays tribute to Lladró´s savoir faire and shows his admiration for the infinite possibilities of its porcelains.
