“Project Geländewagen” is Virgil Abloh‘s most recent attempt to rebuild the conception of luxury. Well-know for his unexpected collaborations, this time the designer is partnering up with Mercedes-Benz to redefine the iconic G-Class.

Virgil Abloh is one of the most famous designers of his generation. The founder of Off-White and Louis Vuitton’s men’s fashion artistic director is known for his numerous collaborations with established brands. Having worked together with Nike, IKEA, and even Evian in 2019, this time it’s Mercedes-Benz that receives the artist’s contribution.

The Mercedes G-Class by Abloh and Wagener
The Mercedes G-Class by Abloh and Wagener

The “Project Gela?ndewagen” is an experiment run by Virgil Abloh and Gorden Wagener, Mercedes-Benz Chief Creative Director, that aims to rebuild the luxury landscape. According to Mercedes, this is “a collaborative project to create a unique design piece from an iconic car model: the Mercedes-Benz G-Class”.

Together, they want to encourage cross-pollination between creative disciplines — an aim that is already strongly reflected in Virgil Abloh’s career and brand collaborations.

Thriving to challenge our vision of luxury, Abloh modernises through colour and reduction once again. A 1:3 scale maquette of the car will be auctioned as part of Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated and all proceeds raised by the project’s replica will be donated to a charity that supports young artists.

Advanced bidding already began in September 14th, with the final sale taking place in October 2nd (take part, here). The maquette is estimated between $60,000 and $80,000.

For those who will not get the chance to see the real piece, there is the possibility of exploring it in augmented reality with the “Project Geländewagen” filter on the Mercedes-Benz‘s Instagram account.

Maquette G-Class Mercedes by Abloh
The car’s maquette sold by Sotheby’s

Change Driven by Unbounded Creativity

In fact, marketing and the way we think about products is changing and a trend towards unbounded creativity can be seen often times across several industries. Brands are abandoning the traditional presentation of product features and artistic approaches are gaining more and more room, where businesses are giving creatives enough space to develop out of the box visual concepts.

To remain a player in some of the most competitive industries, it is important to constantly find new ways of setting yourself apart from the remaining competition.

Polestar, an up-and-coming brand in the electric car scene, has recently loosen up the reins of their creative approach and let a pool of selected photographers define how their cars should be portrayed in their home cities.

Whether the goal is achieving the “wow” factor, reaching new audiences, or simply refreshing the way of doing things, unbounded creativity is an increasingly chosen option.

Cherrydeck connects brands with professional creatives

Here are some Cherrydeck members who can help you adopting unbounded creativity within the automotive industry:

Do you want to see more car photography? Discover more photographers doing great work in the automotive industry, here, or have a look at Cherrydeck’s collaboration with Polestar.

Do you have a project and need creative talent for it? Let’s discuss it! ?


Posted by:Cherrydeck Editorial

Our mission is to enable brands to source custom visual content at scale through our global creative community. Follow us on Instagram for the latest updates @cherrydeck

One thought on “Virgil Abloh and Mercedes-Benz are Rebuilding the Luxury Landscape

Share your thoughts!