Balenciaga Objects: Tiger Sculpture

Since the appointment of Demna Gvasalia as creative director in 2015, Balenciaga has continually been challenging the very idea of what it means to be a luxury fashion house. The latest offering from their Balenciaga Objects collection, a handcrafted tiger sculpture, continues to embody this spirit of subversion. During Demna’s tenure, he has embraced the anti-consumerist stance of slow fashion, choosing to release only one haute couture range a year. Thus, as we arduously endure the wait between these collections, the Balenciaga Objects line is a welcome relief, allowing us a glimpse at the wider creative direction of the brand under Demna’s guidance.

The man behind the sculpture is post-modern artist Nik Kosmas, whose oeuvre sardonically observes the state of technology and the human experience in the 21^st century. Based in China’s mega metropolis Shanghai, Kosmas’ work is a physical, emotional, and spiritual journey inspired by science fiction, sports practice, and psychology. The sculpture itself would not have looked out of place in the brand’s SS22 show, with its sleek all black appearance resembling the ‘Cyber Goth’ aesthetic of that range. Despite the futuristic hybridity of the piece, its handcrafted nature stays true to the roots of the brand. Kosmas’s brass shaping of every aspect from the whiskers to the vertebrae reflects the ethos of bespoke luxury that has been at the heart of the brand since its inception.

Launching on November 20th, 2020, Balenciaga Objects is a category of items produced outside of the fashion collections. Having released various items of homeware over the last couple of months, ranging from laser-engraved glassware to reusable porcelain coffee cups, this latest venture represents a stylistic shift to the ornamental. The Objects collection now offers the decorative as well as the functional.

Presented on 38 x 27cm display platforms, there will be 15 numbered editions of the product released worldwide. Each model undergoes a meticulous process of craftsmanship; the individual components are shaped using the ancient technique of lost-wax casting, before being welded coated and glossed by hand.

As various fashion houses face accusations of lacking originality or recycling ideas, this release represents the latest in a long line of successes from the brand that just seems to keep getting it right. All that is left to do is to eagerly await whatever the next steps may be in this truly innovative era of the iconic brand’s history.