"Tatto" Gardener Meets Nike Art Toy

Michael Lau designed this "Tatto" figure as a Nike-collaborative extension of his flagship Gardener series — created specifically for the Gardener Meets Nike Hong Kong Flagship Event on 29 September 2006 and produced in a limited edition of only 50 pieces worldwide, with the box stamped "Gardener Meets Nike at Hong Kong Flagship 29092006" and marked with the Crazy Smiles logo. The figure itself is part of the ongoing character program that has anchored his practice since 1999 and essentially created the modern designer toy category. The figure appears as a tattooed Gardener character with visible arm ink and Nike detailing throughout, packaged in a hand-branded wooden crate-style box that opens to reveal the piece and its accompanying inserts.

Michael Lau Kin-man (b. 1970, Hong Kong) is internationally recognized as the "Godfather of Designer Toys" and the founder of the urban vinyl style within the art-toy movement. After graduating from Hong Kong's First Institute of Art and Design in 1992, Lau merged action-figure sculpture with street culture, launching the "Gardener" series in 1999. His work has been exhibited from Tokyo and Taipei to London, Paris and Christie's Hong Kong/Shanghai, and he has collaborated with Nike, Casio, Puma, Carhartt and Maharishi, cementing his influence on hip-hop, skate and toy culture worldwide.