Design in dialogue

Our ambition is to offer good, democratic design – creating high-quality, well-designed products in collaboration with the world’s leading designers. This commitment runs through our growing assortment of furniture, lighting, and accessories, which asks not just how things are made, but how they might be made better. Circularity and durability are longstanding priorities for us – and more recently, repairability has become a principle we’re working actively to integrate. From a lounge chair shaped through textile tension to a multipurpose seat made from postconsumer plastic, or a modular sofa designed for disassembly, each piece reflects a conscious effort to rethink the systems behind design.

These ideas take shape in our latest furniture launches. The O2 Lounge Chair, Layout Chair, and Mario Bellini’s reissued Italian icon, the Amanta Sofa, are different in form but united by intent – all developed with a focus on material responsibility, long-term use, and the belief that design should adapt to life, not the other way around.

This mindset also shapes our approach to reissues. The return of the Amanta Sofa this year joins HAY’s lineage of purposeful revivals – from the 1934 Crate Collection to the Rey Collection and X-Line Chair of the 1970s. These icons aren’t revived for nostalgia’s sake, but because their principles – modular thinking, enduring design value, and material intelligence – continue to meet the needs of modern life. Our aim is not only to honour the depth of design history, but to ensure that these ideas remain relevant well into the future.

When we reimagine a design for contemporary use, the process begins with a simple question: is this relevant for our time? We seek ideas that resonate today, regardless of when or where they were first conceived – and look for ways to evolve them for a new generation.

Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. Creativity takes shape when we explore uncharted ground and welcome unexpected thinking into the conversation. At HAY, staying relevant means stepping outside the obvious and actively seeking out new voices. We draw energy from dialogue – with artists, architects, and others who approach challenges from a different angle, including those working in food, fashion, and other creative disciplines – expanding the possibilities of what design can be. Originality often emerges in these intersections, where disciplines overlap, conventions loosen, and something new begins to take form.

That spirit comes to life in La Pittura, our latest tableware collection with American artist Emma Kohlmann. Her expressive drawings find new rhythm in hand-painted ceramics – everyday objects that carry the trace of the human hand. This collection doesn’t just serve a function; it invites feeling, reminding us that the emotional life of an object is as essential as its form – and that the most meaningful designs are often the most personal.

We know that lasting change in design takes time. We’re committed to continuing this work thoughtfully, incrementally, and with intention. Step by step, we move forward. We’re better today than we were yesterday. Tomorrow, we aim to be better still. This mission guides us every day. At HAY, we believe beauty belongs in every part of life, and that true innovation happens when art, industry, and curiosity are in conversation.