2020 has been the year of hibernation, so it’s a fabulous fit that for the upcoming festive season, luxury German department store Breuninger has launched a limited edition sculpture in the shape of an animal we most associate with a long winter rest.
The Breuni-Bear – the German retailer’s long term mascot has been imagined in varied iterations, like 1995’s fluffy mohair friend, complete with felt nose, checked jacket and bow tie. From 2019, he got a more haute coat, when Swiss photographer and filmmaker Michael Comte devised a sleek limited edition golden bear, made in collaboration with Berlin’s KPM porcelain. There’s an interstellar inclination behind 2020’s design, which sees the Breuni-Bear coated in glossy platinum. It’s a striking, Pop Art-centric objet for any mantelpiece.
Comte has been working with Breuninger – the historic German store which was founded in by Eduard Breuninger in 1881 – since 2016. During this four year tenure, he has worked across a variety of visual projects, including wrapping its stark Stuttgart store’s facade with images of 10,000 blossoming flowers from 130 countries, for its S/S 2018 campaign. This winter also sees the launch of another organic offering – ‘Combining worlds with flowers’, a coffee table book published by Steidl.
The Breuni-Bear taps into not just Breuninger’s history, but KPM’s too. The historic porcelain producer is one of the oldest in Europe and was founded in 1763 by King Frederick II of Prussia. The smile-inducing style is available in 11 of Breuninger’s department stores, in a limited run of 100 pieces.
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