Microscopic handbag ‘smaller than grain of salt’ sells for more than $63,000
A microscopic handbag that’s “smaller than a grain of salt” has been bought for over $63,000.
The miniscule handbag, made by Brooklyn-based artwork collective MSCHF, was auctioned final week by Joopiter. The public sale home, which was based by Pharrell Williams, bought the yellow-green fluorescent purse for $63,750 on 27 June. This got here days after it was first auctioned for a a lot cheaper price of $15,000.
The tote bag, which solely measures 657 by 222 by 700 microns, was created by “2-photon polymerization printing strategies”, in response to Joopiter. It was bought alongside a microscope that “contains a built-in digital show”, so as for the customer to view the purse.
On Instagram, MSCHF described the bag as “smaller than a grain of salt”. In keeping with the corporate, the handbag is “slim sufficient to cross via the attention of a needle”.
“It is a purse so small you’ll want a microscope to see it. There are huge purses, regular purses, and small purses, however that is the ultimate phrase in bag miniaturization,” the model defined within the caption of its Instagram put up.
“As a once-functional object like a handbag turns into smaller and smaller its object standing turns into steadily more abstracted till it’s purely a model signifier,” MSCHF added.
The tiny purse additionally seems to be a knockoff of a Louis Vuitton purse, because it options an LV label within the center of it. The design can be much like the logos on the Louis Vuitton’s “OnTheGo” handbag, which retails for wherever between $3,100 and $4,300.
Chatting with The New York Occasions earlier this month, MSCHF’s chief artistic officer, Kevin Wiesner, confessed that he didn’t ask for permission to make use of Louis Vuitton’s brand on the bag. “We’re huge within the ‘ask forgiveness, not permission’ college,” he mentioned.
Nevertheless, he went on to acknowledge that the posh model’s artistic director of menswear, Pharrell Williams, has been a fan of surprisingly sized objects. “Pharrell loves huge hats, so we made him an extremely small bag,” Wiesner added.
When MSCHF first shared the photograph of its mini bag on Instagram, folks didn’t hesitate to poke enjoyable at its measurement within the feedback.
“Lastly a bag that matches all this money,” one joked, whereas one other quipped: “I believe it’s fairly common sized tbh.”
A 3rd added: “I’m gonna steal it and eat it so nobody can have it.”
After it was based in 2016, MSCHF has continued to make headlines for some of its controversial merchandise. In March 2021, Nike sued the artwork collective over a pair of “Devil Sneakers” launched in collaboration with Lil Nas X.
The sneakers, priced at $1,018 per pair, had been made utilizing Nike Air Max 97s and contained a drop of human blood. The footwear additionally featured a pentagram pendant and a reference to Bible verse Luke 10:18 — “I noticed Devil fall like lightning from heaven.”
Nike alleged within the lawsuit that MSCHF’s “unauthorised Devil Sneakers are prone to trigger confusion and dilution and create an misguided affiliation between MSCHF’s merchandise and Nike.”
On the time, the sneaker model additionally issued a press release: “We shouldn’t have a relationship with Little Nas X or MSCHF. Nike didn’t design or launch these footwear and we don’t endorse them.”
Earlier this yr, MSCHF additionally divided folks with the launch of its “Large Purple Boot”. Earlier than the merchandise went on sale in February, followers in contrast the cartoonish shoe to footwear worn by cartoon characters like Ronald McDonald or Dora The Explorer’s sidekick, Boots.
