Yahoo Lifestyle Birkin-inspired ‘The Big Birk’ Rolls Into Palm Beach for Art Fair
While thousands of people might want to get their hands on a Birkin bag, the artist Giovanni Casas, who is known as GEO, has created “The Big Birk” for Art Palm Beach.
The art-like sculpture is meant to be reminiscent of Hermès’ prized handbag. The New York-based creative has his own agency and first created a jumbo bag at the request of Buttonscarves, an Indonesian company that was looking to make a splash in New York City’s Times Square. That creation wound up in “Guinness Book of World Records.” It also was used for a fashion show.
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A few years later, one of his staffers suggested that they make another bag, but a Birkin-inspired one, so the team did just that. They created a pink one in May. After Denis Leon, whose gallery represents GEO, asked that he make something for Art Palm Beach, the artist pitched a Big Birk and once approved, they whipped up one in bright yellow.
Now he is showing off a bright yellow one at the art fair that runs through Sunday. Describing the Birkin bag as “a global symbol of prestige, and timeless elegance,” the show’s director and producer Kassandra Voyagis said it “offers an exciting dialogue between art and affluence, capturing the spirit of a place where high fashion and high culture intersect seamlessly.”
As for the legal ramifications, GEO knew all about the artist Mason Rothschild’s legal battle with Hermès over his “MetaBirkins” NFTs and Walmart’s “Wirkin” (an $80 alternative that is now no more. Walmart just announced they will no longer sell the viral dupes, but Rebag items will be introduced to Walmart Marketplace for secondhand bags.) The digital MetaBirkins were inspired by the luxury house’s famed “Birkin” handbag named for Jane Birkin. The Birkin was first introduced in 1984 after the late actress had suggested the need for such an oversize luxury handbag to an Hermès executive on an international flight. During the Hermès-Rothschild trial, Hermès said it sells more than $100 million in Birkin bags each year, and had done so for the past decade. The 2023 ruling determined that the artist had infringed on the trademark rights of Hermès.
GEO said, “We’re not replicating it exactly. I’m not saying it’s a real Birkin. I recreate AI designs,” he said, adding that they could be from Paris, Italy or New York. “Ever since the pandemic, I’ve been creating these giant forms — a Nike shoe, ‘the Birkin Bag’ — a public pay phone.”
The first Big Birk generated 10 million views on social media and calls from London and France inquiring about bringing it there. The artist, however, has not heard from Hermès. “I’m not trying to take anything away from Hermès or Birkin,” GEO said.
To create a sculpture the size of “The Big Berk” is a financial undertaking, which means the selling price could start at $250,000, GEO said. While some have inquired about using it as a public installation, the plan is to sell it, he said.
Transporting “The Big Birk,” a 24-foot-high structure on a flatbed trailer on a rainy, windy day to the Palm Beach County Convention Center took some work — it had to be broken down and reassembled three times, due to some of the lower hanging power lines en route. The bag was made in yellow to coordinate with Art Palm Beach’s branding. “Right now fashion and art and branding are so together,” GEO said.
One of his latest assignments is to create a gargantuan 10-foot mosquito form for Johnson & Johnson’s new insect repellant product that will be unveiled next month in Las Vegas. He has also collaborated with the New York Public Library and has been tapped for a new project with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “I’m a New Yorker. I came here from Colombia as an immigrant, when I was 13. I went to the Palladium and Limelight. Right now I’m just an artist. Obviously, I have my design agency, but my main thing is to create things,” he said.
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