words Anna Bates

Plastic dolls of Karim Rashid and Jaime Hayon are the graduation project of Central Saint Martins student Olivia Lee, who decided to turn “the designer” into a product.

Called the Cult of Design, the highly entertaining dolls pay homage to the designers – but they also poke fun at our culture of starchitects and star designers. “The project is an observation of how designer personalities are literally becoming synonymous with the objects they design,” Lee explains.

Lee merges the visual characteristics of the designers with the visual language of their work. Rashid’s doll – a sunglass-wearing figurine with a receding hairline – melts into a pink blobby form, while Hadid’s hair resembles her chest of drawers for Established and Sons. Hayon look like one of his toy-like porcelain vases, further identified by his distinctive facial hair.

Only Rashid currently exists in plastic, but we hope it’s only a matter of time before the others follow, and they all make it onto the shop floor.

http://www.olivia-lee.com/

images ©2008 Olivia Lee. All rights reserved