Jeff Koons has spent much of his career transforming familiar objects into something entirely different. Now, alongside Hublot, the American artist is applying that same thinking to the wrist.
The collaboration brings together two very different expressions of Koons' world. First is the Classic Fusion Balloon Dog, which takes one of the artist's most recognisable creations and reimagines its inflated, reflective form through watchmaking. Limited to 200 pieces per edition, its rounded construction and sense of volume attempt to translate the physical character of Koons' sculpture into something that can be worn.
That idea of inflation carries more meaning for Koons than you might initially expect. "We take a deep breath and expand, and that's a symbol of life energy," he explains. It's a fitting description of a watch built around the optimism and playfulness that have made the Balloon Dog such an enduring part of his work.
The MP-14 Origin is a considerably more cosmic proposition. Limited to just 30 pieces, the watch combines sapphire, titanium and gem-set white gold to explore the creation of the universe on a miniature scale. At its centre sits Hublot's first automatic central tourbillon, surrounded by an architecture intended to capture the moment everything begins to expand.
On paper, one watch deals with a balloon animal and the other with the birth of the universe. But the connection becomes clearer when Koons talks about his approach to storytelling. "Narrative is really the connection of one idea to another, one concept to another," he says. Both pieces ultimately deal with transformation, energy and the possibilities of the physical world, just at dramatically different scales.
That physicality is also what attracted Koons to Hublot in the first place. After visiting the watchmaker and seeing its approach to engineering, craftsmanship and material experimentation up close, he found the sort of playground most artists would struggle to turn down. As he puts it, working with those possibilities made him feel "like a child in a candy shop."
Following the unveiling, we caught up with Koons to discuss the ideas behind the collaboration, turning his Balloon Dog into a timepiece, recreating the origins of the universe on the wrist and why working with Hublot has given him an entirely new set of materials to play with.
Culted: Both Hublot and yourself speak about transformation as a shared philosophy. Why did that idea become the foundation of this collaboration?
Jeff Koons: At the core of both Hublot and myself is this desire to continue to become. I want to become a better artist. I always want to perform at a higher level. I want to transcend.
I think Hublot operates in the same way. Everything within the company is set up so that it can continue to transcend and make even better timepieces. Even though they're already at such a high level, they want to continue serving people and making the best product they possibly can.
There are plenty of artist collaborations in luxury today. What makes this feel like a genuine creative collaboration rather than simply putting your name on a product?
I've done collaborations in the past, and I was drawn to Hublot because of its commitment to watchmaking and the quality of its watches. That type of commitment is really about caring.
When I visited Hublot and saw the watchmaking first-hand, I was completely moved by the people working in material science, engineering and craftsmanship. There's this commitment to learning and continuing that incredible level of watchmaking.
Then there are the materials. When you have a conceptual idea and want to bring it into existence, you're dealing with the physical world. Hublot embraces that through ceramics, sapphire, different metals, leather and rubber, and then asks how far each material can be taken. How much gloss can you achieve? How matte can something become? How can you control the sheen or texture?
For me, I'm like a child in a candy shop. We share that joy of asking how we can interact with the physical world to make something have the strongest impact possible.
The two watches tell very different stories. How important is narrative to your work?
Narrative is very important. When I was a young artist, I started to realise I could create a vocabulary and generate feelings and sensations through personal iconography. Once you create those feelings and emotions, they generate ideas, and narrative comes into play.
Narrative is really the connection of one idea to another, one concept to another. I believe very much in storytelling and the consciousness that comes from layering information.
The two watches have different distinctions. The MP-14 Origin is perhaps more abstract, looking at mathematics, science, the universe, time and space.
The Classic Fusion Balloon Dog is abstract in a different way. It's about the joy of materials and this sense of inflation. It's much more connected to the now and, in a way, creates a more direct interaction with the wearer. The abstraction of the MP-14 Origin feels more external.
Who do you see wearing these pieces? Traditional Hublot collectors, contemporary art collectors, or people somewhere between the two?
I would hope everyone, in some sense.
Of course, it's wonderful if people want to collect these watches. That's why we made them. But there's also joy in somebody simply interacting with the concept of the watches and contemplating the collaboration.
Naturally, I hope people who collect timepieces will be interested in them and experience pleasure through that interaction, but you don't necessarily have to own one to engage with the ideas behind it.
Looking at the finished watches, is there a particular detail you're especially proud of?
I really enjoy the inflated quality of the Classic Fusion Balloon Dog. The way the wristband and the watch itself come together creates this sense of inflation.
That's interesting to me because we ourselves are inflatable. We take a deep breath and expand, and that's a symbol of life energy. When we exhale, there's a symbol of death. With the Balloon Dog, that sense of optimism continues.
With the MP-14 Origin, I love the tourbillon in the centre. There's this hemisphere of blue embedded within the mechanisms of the watch. I find it very moving emotionally. It gives the piece a sense of gravity and provides a centre for everything around it.
Both watches required completely new approaches to engineering. Which pushed you and the Hublot team furthest?
I think they both did, but in different ways.
With the MP-14, the engineering required to incorporate the different colours, the minute and hour indications, the weighting, the stones across the dials and the tourbillon in the centre was incredibly impressive. Bringing all of that together within clear sapphire was quite an achievement.
With the Classic Fusion Balloon Dog, achieving that sense of inflation is stunning. It's embracing life's energy, but it isn't simply optimistic for the sake of being optimistic. There's still an awareness of what comes beyond the present.
People say, "Is there death in Arcadia?" There's always an understanding of a darker side. The optimism comes from making a conscious choice to embrace life regardless.
If the partnership continues, are there other ideas, artworks or technical challenges you'd like to explore with Hublot?
I'd love the opportunity to continue working with Hublot.
If that happened, I think we'd approach it from wherever we both were at that moment. I'd look at the ideas I was exploring and what felt challenging or interesting to me, while Hublot might have a particular platform, material or technical development they were interested in exploring.
From there, we'd find something within that world that I could exploit and develop through my own vocabulary.
