pien studios x karhu
amsterdam, july 2024
Karhu is one of the oldest running shoe brands in the world, a Finnish label with a long history of craft and a quiet confidence that has kept it relevant across decades. When Karhu approached Pien Studios to help launch their Mestari sneaker, it felt like a natural progression for Pien to immerse herself in the world and archives of Karhu and bring her own perspective to it.
The collaboration began with a campaign, shot by Pien Barendregt and Maxime van Namen. Rather than a traditional product shoot, the campaign was built around the world Pien Studios inhabits, tactile, playful and carefully composed.
To mark the launch of the Mestari, Pien hosted a community breakfast at Carmen Amsterdam - a morning designed to bring together friends around Pien Studios in an intimate setting. For the occasion, Pien designed and made personalised egg cozies with each guest's initials, alongside embroidered dust bags for the Mestari sneakers. The table, the details and the atmosphere were all put together by Pien herself, turning the breakfast into something that felt less like an event and more like a gathering of people who belong in the same room.