The sneaker with Balenciaga becomes art.
Fresh from the inauguration of its new London flagship store, Balenciaga has once again employed its creativity in interior design with its latest proposal, the Runner sculpture sneaker.
Una Runner size EU 42 — Balenciaga’s key sneaker from 2021 — this life-size, handmade, non-deformable piece is made of glazed porcelain and weighs 1.4 kg. Produced in Switzerland in a limited edition of only 20 editions, the piece is hand-carved before being baked, painted using a traditional Italian Majolica technique to add those worn, vintage-toned details, and then baked again.
Like genuine sneakers, layered sports textures, worn fabric edges, visible seams, and adherent technical design elements embellish the sculpture at 360 °. From a distance, it doesn’t even look like a sculpture, which might indicate why this limited piece costs $7,290, almost seven times more than the sneaker’s price of $1,150.
The sculpture is available for purchase in Balenciaga stores in Beijing, Beverly Hills, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Munich, Paris, Shanghai, Tokyo, and online.
