Wtf is Labubu—and why did Art Basel sell 100 of them?
Everything you need to know about the most unexpected collab in the art business
The limited edition Art Basel x Labubu figurine with its li’l level. Courtesy the Art Basel Shop.
Only a few days before the opening of its flagship Swiss fair early this week, Art Basel announced a collaboration that practically no one in the art trade saw coming: a special limited edition Labubu figurine sold exclusively on site in the merch-focused Art Basel Shop.
I say practically no one saw it coming mainly because, based on my casual polling in the time since, practically no one in the art trade even understood the basics of wtf this thing was. But even though the team-up speaks volumes about where art stands in the broader context of pop culture and young money in 2025, it’s largely been treated as a cute (or cringe) oddity, nothing more.
Since one of the Gray Market’s signature value propositions has always been my willingness to commit absolutely stupid amounts of time and effort to deciphering aspects of the art and culture businesses that no one else will, however, I present to you the definitive tip-to-tail explainer on the alliance between the world’s most prestigious art fair and the world’s most viral international collectible. Like it or not, this is where we are, folks…
I can’t believe I’m asking this, but fine, I’ll bite: What even is Labubu?
The character is one of several created by the Hong Kong-born, Netherlands-raised artist Kasing Lung as part of his Monsters Trilogy, a series of children’s books largely spun off from Nordic mythology beginning in 2015. Among the denizens of this world are the Labubus, a furry, nearly all-female tribe of elf-like creatures with fang-toothed smiles and good intentions that, apparently, nevertheless often end up unleashing havoc.1
After joining the Hong Kong-based toymaker How2work as an illustrator in the early 2010s, Lung and the company launched a line of Monsters toys in sync with the trilogy’s publication. But it wasn’t until after he signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Chinese toy retailer Pop Mart in 2019 that Labubu became a global phenomenon.
What changed in 2019?
The breakout seems to have started with Pop Mart’s decision to offer most Labubu products in limited-edition series wrapped in so-called blind boxes, packaging that hides which specific iteration of the character is inside until after it’s been bought and opened.
This was manna from heaven for content creators; TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are awash in Labubu unboxing videos. Although the most popular ones are small-ish plush dolls—typically sold in US Pop Mart stores for $27.99—the company has released a whole range of options in different sizes, materials, colors, and themes.
Labubus have accessorized a growing throng of international celebrities over the past few years, starting with Lisa from K-Pop sensation Blackpink (and the most recent season of The White Lotus) and extending to Rihanna, Dua Lipa, David Beckham, and former NBA All-Defensive Team forward Dillon Brooks.2
So what kind of Labubu did Art Basel sell this week?
A small blue special edition holding a tiny level as a nod to art installers everywhere. Just over half the edition of 100 figurines were made available for purchase exclusively on site Monday, and the remainder followed on Tuesday.
All 100 figurines, priced at CHF 200 (around $250) each, were gobbled up almost immediately by fanatics and those ready to exploit them. My former colleague Carlie Porterfield at The Art Newspaper reported that, moments after the first day’s drop sold out, “a would-be Labubu flipper yelled that he would be willing to resell his for $5,000 in cash.”
Um, that resale markup is delusional… right?
Honestly, it’s pretty representative of the secondary market for sought-after versions of these furry little freaks. The Chinese auction house Yongle held the first-ever dedicated sale of rare Labubus in Hong Kong on June 10, with the 48 lots making around $520,000 (with fees) overall. The top seller was a one-of-one, roughly four-foot-tall iteration, which went for around $170,000 (with fees).
Good grief, tell me those results are an anomaly.
Sorry, can’t! For one thing, a spokesperson for Yongle told NBC News afterward that the auction house would start staging Labubu sales “regularly.”
Also, Joopiter, the auction startup founded by ageless multi-hyphenate Pharrell Williams, just closed an online-only sale organized by high-end Japanese fashion line sacai and K-Pop boy band supernova Seventeen. Aside from a custom leather jacket and a signed t-shirt, the other 14 items in the auction were all unique plush Labubus “wearing custom designed sacai x Carhartt WIP onesies and a one-of-a-kind necklace.” They sold for between $23,437.50 and $39,062.50 each after tacking on Joopiter’s 25% buyers premium.3
Oh god you’re about to reel off some data points about Labubu sales and the stock market that’ll make me question the underlying logic of capitalism, aren’t you?
Sure am! Merch sales for Labubu alone—not the Monsters series as a whole—generated more than $419m worldwide for Pop Mart in 2024, per Mashable, “outperforming all other IPs in the company’s catalog.”
They’ve also been rocket fuel for the company’s stock. Pop Mart International Group’s share price on the Hong Kong stock exchange nearly tripled between January and mid-June of this year, propelling it to a market cap of around $42.5bn as of Thursday evening.4 For comparison, that’s around 7X the market cap of Mattel—the toy brand behind Barbie, Hot Wheels, and the Fisher-Price line—and around 4.5X the market cap of Hasbro, which makes Transformers, G.I. Joe, and My Little Pony.
More importantly for our purposes, it also means Pop Mart’s market cap is nearly double that of luxury conglomerate Kering (around $25bn Thursday night)—and equivalent to around 80% of the best guess for the size of the entire market for art and antiques, the $57.5bn aggregate sales estimate in the latest Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report.5
A chart showing Pop Mart’s percentage change in share price over the past year versus that of luxury conglomerate Kering and American toymaking colossi Mattel and Hasbro. Data and visualization by Google Finance
Does this mean Lung is fabulously wealthy?
I haven’t been able to confirm anything specific about that, but unless he got absolutely fleeced in his licensing deal with Pop Mart, it’s reasonable to guess that he and his family are set for life.
What I can tell you for sure is that Pop Mart founder Wang Ning is now projected to be China’s youngest billionaire, according to Forbes, with an estimated net worth of $22.7bn. That bankroll also makes him the tenth-richest person in all of China.
Is the Art Basel partnership Labubu’s first appearance in the art world?
Nope, a Modern-art-inspired capsule collection of Lung’s creations went on sale at the Louvre in spring 2024.
The so-called Monsters Art mini series included Labubus modeled on the Mona Lisa, Degas’s Little Dancer, and Michelangelo’s David, among others—plus, for some incongruous reason, Vincent Van Gogh himself (as in, the actual artist, not one of his paintings). Filling out the rest of the offering were art-themed iterations of other characters from Lung’s stable of Monsters. Remember this the next time some French person acts as if their country is the only one that would keep the pantheon of high culture safe from consumerism.
How did the Art Basel collab come together?
An Art Basel spokesperson told me by email that it began after Lung visited the Art Basel Shop at the brand’s Hong Kong fair this past March. Here’s the rest of their statement on how things proceeded:
“At the time, Art Basel had no idea he had passed through our doors. No meeting was arranged, no conversation took place—just the quiet intersection of two creative worlds, unknowingly sharing space.
“Moved by the possibility of dialogue, we reached out after the fair with a letter—a gesture of admiration and curiosity. We hoped, though did not expect, a response. Then came the reply: not only had Kasing received the letter, he was eager to explore a collaboration.
“What followed was a creative exchange grounded in mutual respect and artistic intuition. Kasing proposed a custom edition of his beloved character, Labubu, designed exclusively for Art Basel. Together with How2work, we considered what this figure might hold—something symbolic, reflective of the spirit of the fair. The choice: a level—an object of precision, balance, and intent. We paired it with a custom Pantone, inspired by our city—Basel Blue.”
Sorry, do corporate spokespeople usually give statements like that?
It’s unusually rhapsodic in my experience, especially for a Swiss company. Which may be more proof of what a sensation these things have become. Idk, how about we just move on?
OK, do you know anything about the terms of the deal between Art Basel, Lung, and anyone else involved?
When I asked about whether Pop Mart had any involvement in the partnership, the Art Basel spokesperson said only that “Art Basel has a direct agreement in place with How2Work and Kasing Lung regarding this collaboration,” and that the company couldn’t comment on “the terms and conditions of any third-party licensing arrangements or partnerships that may exist outside of its own.”
Other than that, they just reiterated some basic facts I’ve already covered above. (My email to Pop Mart requesting clarification about their involvement, or lack thereof, in the project went unanswered by newsletter time.)
So why would Art Basel get into the Labubu business?
I have two main theories. First, it’s natural to draw a straight line from Labubu back to limited edition Bearbricks and KAWS figurines—two other approachable collectibles with robust resale markets that have doubled as gateway drugs to buying Modern and contemporary art among millennial and Gen Z wealth. In fact, part of the reason they’ve played that role is because other art-industry entities have actively tried to use these other collectibles as points of convergence. Does anyone remember the Bearbricks x Van Gogh Museum collab, for example?
I would guess Art Basel looked at this project with Lung and How2work as a similar opportunity to cultivate fresh faces who might otherwise be beyond its reach. How successful the company might be in eventually moving Labubu fanatics from $250 toys to $25,000 or $250,000 artworks is up for debate, but there’s no downside in trying.
When I asked the Art Basel spokesperson how much this possibility played into the company’s thinking around the Labubu drop—and whether Art Basel would be doing any kind of special outreach to the lucky buyers who got their hands on one of the editions—they would only say that the Art Basel Shop “has become a space to reflect the ethos supporting artists in precise, ambitious ways that don’t necessarily involve six- or seven-figure works,” and that “that spirit has guided past editions featuring capsule collections and limited objects by artists like Claire Fontaine, Christine Sun Kim, and Paulo Nimer Pjota.”
How valid are those comps vis-à-vis the Labubu experiment?
They certainly speak to the Shop and its contents as an exercise in brand stretching, a strategy in which high-end retailers offer goods at all rungs of the price ladder. It’s the reason every major fashion house sells belts, sunglasses, and wallets for a few hundred bucks or less: get the widest possible audience signed on, then tantalize them with aspirational upselling.
But Lung has also had a fundamentally different type of career than the three artists mentioned above.6 Their work has been shown by internationally respected dealers and included in institutional exhibitions and major biennials. His hasn’t, really, aside from one solo and one group exhibition at Takashi Murakami’s Kaikai Kiki Gallery, which represents him.
That’s not a shot at Lung or what he does. It’s entirely plausible that he could make the same kind of jump as KAWS or Beeple, whose wild successes outside the traditional borders of the art industry enabled them to blaze a trail into white-cube galleries, high-end auction houses, and renowned museums. He just hasn’t done it yet.
What’s your other theory about the collab?
That it was less about immediately converting Labubu fanatics into art collectors than it was about projecting the Art Basel brand deeper into the pop cultural bloodstream than it would otherwise be able to get. The Art Basel spokesperson alluded to all this by saying that Lung’s “presence at the intersection of art and pop culture brings a different kind of energy, one that opens new conversations and makes space for more voices. That cultural crossover is something Art Basel welcomed as part of the project’s broader impact.”
I said earlier that, based on what I was hearing, very few people in the art world knew wtf Labubu was before last week (and most still don’t). But I’d wager that the inverse was probably just as true—meaning, very few people in the Labubu world probably knew wtf Art Basel was before last week either. Most of them still don’t, but the number is smaller than it used to be thanks to this partnership.
Should we expect to see another Labubu drop in Art Basel Paris?
The spokesperson said they had “nothing to confirm at this stage.” If the Labubu craze runs into the fall, though, I personally wouldn’t rule it out. Again, they already got to the Louvre!
Last question: Does this whole episode make you feel a little like you just took ayahuasca?
Bro, I feel that way every time I look at the news or social media. In comparison to what’s happening everywhere else, I’ll take Labubu x Art Basel any day of the week.
Apparently the only male member of the Labubu tribe is its leader, Zimomo. Do with that information what you will.
Take it from me, a deep-in-the-weeds NBA fan: something like this is actually totally on brand for Brooks, whose superpower is to irritate the living shit out of his opponents both on and off the court.
The allure wasn’t just that these were part of “the first official collaboration between Labubu and an international fashion brand,” per Joopiter’s website. Instead of sporting the same beige onesie as the other 13 dolls, the fit for one of them was in a “distinct colorway” chosen as “a subtle variation and nod to one of Pharrell Williams’s favorite sacai pieces.” But none of the winners would know which lot was the extra-special edition until they opened their packages after the sale. I am straining so hard not to be judgmental that my entire field of vision is pulsating.
Technically HK$333.9bn, which I went ahead and converted to USD.
Credit to WWD for pointing out the Kering comp, although the numbers had shifted a little between the publication of the story linked in this footnote and the finalization of this newsletter.
Fontaine, I should mention, isn’t actually a person. She’s a joint alter ego—or, to use the language of Mennour, one of their galleries, “a collective feminist conceptual artist”—created by the artists Fulvia Carnevale and James Thornhill in 2004.