Collection Launched At Swatch Art Peace Hotel On The Bund#
Artists Frank Kozik, Tara McPherson, and MAD with Swatch president Arlette-Elsa Emch
This week, Swatch launched its collaboration with the New York toy producer and retailer Kidrobot at Shanghai's Swatch Art Peace Hotel on the Bund. For the project, the two companies tapped artists from around the world to create a collection of eight of Kidrobot's iconic "Dunny" toys, the designs of which were reproduced on a set of accompanying Swatch wristwatches. Artists who worked with Swatch and Kidrobot on the collaboration include Gary Baseman, Jeremyville, Frank Kozik, Joe Ledbetter, MAD, Tara McPherson, SSUR, and Tilt.
At the launch, Swatch global president Arlette-Elsa Emch was joined by artists Kozik, McPherson and MAD, along with celebrities from the Asian fashion and art world like Taiwanese television host Kevin Tsai (蔡康永), Taiwanese pop singers Pace Wu (吴佩慈) and Mavis Fan (范晓萱), model Qin Shupei (秦舒培) and Hong Kong composer Zhang Yadong (张亚东).
The interesting part of this story is the fact that Swatch chose Shanghai to unveil this new collaboration, with plans to launch next in 12 other cities around the world -- Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, Liverpool, Amsterdam, Milan, Basel, Paris, Madrid, New York, Singapore and Lisbon. Shanghai's fast-growing fashion and art market and its Peace Hotel made the perfect backdrop for this event. Expect to see similar "Shanghai-first" launches by other brands that have found the Chinese market indispensable as traditional moneymaking markets have gone relatively stagnant.
The Kidrobot Swatch collection will be released at Swatch stores worldwide on September 1st.
The full Kidrobot/Swatch collection (Image: Rayli)
Arlette-Elsa Emch with Mavis Fan
Arlette-Elsa Emch with Kevin Tsai
Arlette-Elsa Emch with Pace Wu
the MAD Swatch