Once a curious, cuddly creature from a Hong Kong illustrator’s sketchbook, Labubu has leapt from niche toy to cult collectible. Created by artist Kasing Lung in 2015 and produced by Chinese toy manufacturer Pop Mart, Labubu is part of a growing genre of designer toys – or “art toys” – and has slowly crept into the orbit of the international art market. With its wide, mischievous grin, the character has gained a devoted fan base across Asia, and increasingly, the West. But can a bug-eyed, goblin-like figure that originally retailed for $20 really fetch five-figure prices at auction? As it turns out – yes, and this might just be the beginning.
What is Labubu, and Why are Prices Climbing?
Labubu is one of the central characters in Lung’s mythical story series The Monsters – a playful, offbeat world that blends Nordic folklore with pop surrealism. Unlike traditional children’s toys, Labubu belongs to a niche design movement that places artistic intent above play value. Often labelled a “vinyl art toy,” it sits within a category known for low production runs, creative collaborations, and fervent adult fanbases. In 2019, Pop Mart reintroduced Labubu in blind boxes (mystery figures sold in sealed packaging), which dramatically amplified its reach and fuelled a thriving secondary market, as collectors scrambled to find rare editions or complete elusive sets.
One plush edition, titled Zimomo x Labubu: I Found You, originally retailed for around £164 and has since traded hands for over £1,000 on the UK resale market. Other editions, such as early resin prototypes or artist customs, are now commanding prices in the thousands. In Hong Kong and mainland China, where the designer toy scene has a particularly strong foothold, select Labubu figures are valued at $3,000 or more. While these sums remain modest compared to major art-market heavyweights, they may signal the beginning of something bigger, not unlike the early days of the NFT boom in 2021. And the most expensive Labubu pieces — both toys and original artworks — have begun appearing under the hammer at global auction houses.
Labubu at Auction: A Character Enters the Fine Art World
Labubu’s most telling milestone came when Sotheby’s Hong Kong featured the character in a contemporary curated sale in 2023. Offered as a sculptural trio titled Three Wise Labubu – Don’t Hear, Don’t See, Don’t Speak, the PVC set was estimated between HKD 30,000 and 50,000 (approximately $3,800 to $6,400), placing a once-$20 figure into the rarefied realm of international auction. The set’s inclusion in a Sotheby’s catalogue, alongside works by KAWS and Bearbrick artists, signalled a growing institutional awareness of the designer toy market, and of Kasing Lung’s place within it.
Beyond Sotheby’s, Phillips Hong Kong sold Lung’s Labubu-themed painting, Mon, for HKD 330,200 ( $42,120). Christie’s also set a new auction benchmark for Lung in March 2025, with the sale of Excited Plastic, an acrylic on canvas that brought more than HKD 780,000 ( $100,000). The closing price exceeded the high estimate and marked a sharp rise from Lung’s previous auction record of $33,500.
The most expensive Labubu doll, rather than painting, was sold by China Guardian auction, one of the mainland’s leading auction platforms. The resin Labubu sculpture sold for HKD 102,000 ( $13,000), exceeding the higher estimate of HKD 85,000. These sales show that collectors are increasingly willing to treat art toys as potentially investment-worthy works.
It doesn’t hurt that Labubu has quietly found its way into the hands of celebrities. Rihanna was recently spotted with a version of the toy attached to her handbag, and singer Dua Lipa recently shared her own collection online, helping push the character further into the cultural mainstream. As with fashion or street art, this kind of visibility brings its own gravity, accelerating interest, boosting perceived value, and expanding the audience well beyond the original fan base.
Beyond the Toy – The World of Kasing Lung
Labubu may be grabbing headlines with celebrity endorsements and a growing social media following, but it’s Kasing Lung’s broader artistic world that gives the character its staying power. Originally an illustrator and comic book artist, Netherlands-based Lung has long been drawn to melancholic creatures and slightly off-kilter narratives. His work isn’t limited to toys: his characters often feel as though they’ve stepped out of a Grimm tale by way of Studio Ghibli.
Lung’s paintings in particular bring a more introspective lens, often large in scale, painterly in texture, and emotionally charged with explosions of colour. In 2022, his solo exhibition “-+” at Kaikai Kiki Gallery in Tokyo unveiled 25 expressive, almost psychedelic works, including canvases as tall as three metres. The show brought new depth to Labubu’s universe, casting the character as something more mythic and art-led. A year later, his “CLOUD” exhibition at Hidari Zingaro offered a more reflective counterpoint – a quiet retrospective of 40 drawings, many of them dreamlike studies that revealed the more intimate layers of Lung’s evolving world.
Collectors across Asia, particularly in Hong Kong and Taiwan, have taken note of this burgeoning artist, and so have auction houses. Whether or not Labubu dolls evolve into a blue-chip collectible, Lung’s artistic world is already doing something well worth watching: building a global audience from a highly niche segment of the art world, one character (and one curious grin) at a time.
