Lladró produces The Guest by Rolito

This French illustrator brings his unique vision to the unusual porcelain character first created by Jaime Hayón.

During Valencia Disseny Week, Spanish company Lladró — in conjunction with Rolito, the well-known French illustrator, art director and designer of figures — unveiled one of its main new products for this year: The Guest by Rolito. Rolito is the fifth, internationally renowned creative to have taken part in Lladró’s ongoing project The Guest, initiated by its experimental department, Lladró Atelier.

This invites cutting-edge artists and designers from around the world to give a porcelain figure originally conceived by Spanish designer Jaime Hayón, artistic advisor to Lladró Atelier, a distinctive personality. The initiative accords with Lladro’s wish to provide in-house designers and freelance creatives with a platform for bringing new ideas to the world of ceramics. All those who’ve teamed up with Lladró have made two Guest figures — a larger one, comprising 250 limited-edition pieces, and a smaller one consisting of numbered editions, all of which mirror their personal aesthetic. Those who’ve collaborated to date include Hayón himself, American creatives Gary Baseman and Tim Biskup and Japanese studio Devilrobots. Rolito’s pieces were launched in January at Paris trade fair Maison & Objet.

Since it was founded 50 years ago, Lladró has become a leading, international maker of china figurines, all painstakingly hand-crafted at its only factory — The City of Porcelain — in Valencia. These are then distributed to over 120 countries.