The growing influence of high design on American consumer culture can be seen in the emergence of hybrid products that are as aesthetic as they are functional. The most quotidian and utilitarian items, from t-shirts to sneakers, are now increasingly co-branded between major corporations and street-credible visual artists. Enter Kidrobot, an American toy company founded in 2002 by Paul Budnitz that riffs on the tradition of artists' multiples with limited-edition, collectible figures.

Kidrobot’s premier figure, the Dunny, created by design-whiz Tristan Eaton, has not only redirected the Japanese otaku subculture towards mainstream America; it has also seamlessly merged form and content as a paradigm of art, design, and product. The potency of Kidrobot in our imagination today is that beyond the intrinsic appeal of the designers involved — artists such as Dalek, Frank Kozik, and Doze Green and fashion designers including Karl Lagerfeld, Hermès, Dolce & Gabbana, and Mark Jacobs for Louis Vuitton — the uniqueness of each product's skin is substantiated by the dynamic form itself. Each new edition draws overnight lines, the pieces rapidly disappearing into the hands of collectors.

Admitting the influence of pop art multiples, Kidrobot employs the medium of the serial canvas to find the latent humor in brand fetishism. If we are eager to pay more just for the label, Budnitz is interested in the alchemy of juxtaposing youth culture with high-end sponsorships. Recent Kidrobot projects include a line of polo shirts with Barneys, bright green boat shoes with Lacoste, and a glow-in-the-dark car with Volkswagen. Design, Kidrobot teaches us, is no longer purely formal, but all the more vital in its capacity for whimsical crossovers.

-CM