adidas X meissen unite to create hand-painted ZX8000 porcelain art sneaker

adidas has teamed up with meissen, europe’s oldest porcelain manufacturer, to bring haute german craftsmanship to life. both brands have come together to create an exclusive art piece: a hand-crafted porcelain ZX8000 sneaker made from premium leather and hand-painted by meissen. weighing exactly 950 grams, the pair of sneakers was painstakingly assembled over a six month period.

earlier in 2020, adidas launched the A-ZX program created with the brand’s archives in-hand with a range of selected partners around the world. using the ZX franchise as the canvas, each partner brings a unique treatment to one of adidas’ most emblematic models. for the december release of the A-ZX program, adidas originals joined forces with meissen.

the art piece brings together the meissen ‘krater’ vase and the adidas originals ZX8000 silhouette. first designed in 1856, the ‘krater’ vase unites a number of decorative styles and techniques from throughout the manufacturer’s 310 year history. paying homage to this quintessential piece of meissen design, adidas’ ZX8000 shoe model is adorned with 15 of the vase’s 130 different patterns. each pattern has been painstakingly crafted with the utmost care and precision by four individual painters across three separate meissen departments.

the 1 of 1 piece will be auctioned off via sotheby’s from december 7-16, 2020. the final auction sale amount will be donated to the brooklyn museum to support access to arts education to the under-served youth in NYC. meanwhile, the commercially-available silhouette, inspired by the art piece and traditional meissen design, will be available for purchase in december.

project info:

name: ZX8000 porcelain

collaborators: adidas X meissen