Background
Based in Bristol, UK, Daniel Hayden established his furniture making practice in 2022. Having spent years working in other industries while creating simple furniture and objects for his own home in his spare time, a spur-of-the-moment decision to sign up for a community woodwork course quickly led to enrolment at the prestigious Williams & Cleal fine furniture school in Somerset. A lifelong fascination with the emotional resonance of interior spaces and the objects within them informs all of Daniel’s pieces.
Signature Style
The idiosyncratic, playful nature of Daniel’s work stems from his interest in the way in which shapes and proportions can be manipulated to create the impression of personalities within inanimate everyday objects. His design process typically involves sketching until a ‘character’ begins to appear, and then exaggerating the elements bringing out that character until it feels whole. This ephemeral quality is counterbalanced by very traditional materials and techniques, which bring a rootedness and sense of continuity with furniture and objects that have come before; in particular, religious pieces and rustic European folk crafts. The combination of these two distinct but complementary elements reflects Daniel’s strong affinity with Charlotte Perriand’s famous vision of a ‘handmade modernism’.
Showstoppers
The Chapel chair was originally inspired by a traditional monk’s chair with a circular back, and while the form has been translated into something much more contemporary, the techniques and materials – carved wood, visible mortise and tenon joinery, natural rush weaving – are very traditional. This through-line from the past allows the chair to sit quietly and unobtrusively within a wide variety of spaces as a compelling, but not anachronistic, addition.
