Wearable art! PUMA and Hong Kong artist Michael Lau came together once again for their new collection “SAMPLE”, which means “Sample” in Turkish.
Hong Kong artist Michael Lau, known as the “Spiritual Father of Toy Figures” and famous for his collectible vinyl toys and graffiti-style illustrations, managed the entire design process from sketching initial ideas to the production of the final product in his latest collaboration with PUMA. Lau states that while working with PUMA, instead of focusing on producing a product with commercial value, he set out with the motivation to create a brand new concept from scratch and create a masterpiece as a result.
With this collection, Michael hopes to remind everyone that the things we sometimes consider “mistakes” can bring joy to products and to us. According to his creative experiences and understanding, when creating any item, regardless of what it is, involuntary mistakes made by the designer or the technician working in the factory can lead to the emergence of the most entertaining product.
In most places, most of the products produced with these unplanned mistakes end up in the trash, but Michael prefers to embrace these mistakes and even takes special inspiration from them in his designs. While the prints and details create the feeling of a collection that is not yet finished and still in the design phase, graphic patterns inspired by Lau's toy figures add a unique touch to the products.
In sneaker designs that give a handmade feeling; hand-drawn graphics, graph paper textures, and other fun design references stand out.