Kasing Lung: The Artist Behind Labubu & THE MONSTERS Explained

Who Is Kasing Lung?

Kasing Lung (龍家昇) is a Hong Kong-based illustrator and designer toy artist whose work sits at the intersection of European children's book illustration, Nordic folklore, and East Asian pop culture aesthetics. Born in Hong Kong in the 1970s, Lung developed his distinctive visual style through an education and early career that drew heavily from Western illustration traditions — a relatively unusual path for a Hong Kong artist of his generation.

Lung spent formative years immersed in the illustrated books of authors like Maurice Sendak and Tove Jansson, whose depictions of strange, mischievous forest creatures would permanently imprint on his artistic imagination. He later studied and worked in Europe, where direct exposure to Scandinavian and Northern European graphic traditions deepened his understanding of the visual language that would eventually coalesce into THE MONSTERS universe.

Before his global breakthrough through Pop Mart, Kasing Lung was already recognized within the limited-edition art toy and designer toy world. He collaborated with boutique toy companies, produced limited vinyl figures through specialty channels, and exhibited his illustration work at art fairs in Hong Kong, Europe, and Japan. His collector base in the underground designer toy scene was devoted but numerically small — a situation that would change radically in the 2020s.

His artistic philosophy centers on the idea that monsters and strange creatures are not inherently threatening but rather misunderstood beings with rich inner lives. This reframing — the monster as friend, as companion, as fellow traveler in a confusing world — is the emotional core of everything Kasing Lung creates and the primary reason his characters resonate with such diverse audiences globally.

The Creation of Labubu

Labubu was not created overnight. The character's design evolved across years of illustration work that Lung undertook for picture books and personal projects. The creature's distinctive silhouette — pointed ears, small horns, a grinning mouth revealing a row of uneven triangular teeth, and an overall form somewhere between elf, rabbit, and forest spirit — emerged from Lung's sustained engagement with the folklore of Northern Europe.

The name "Labubu" has no direct translation or clear etymological root — Lung has described it as a word that simply felt right for the character's personality. The name's soft, repeated syllables give it a childlike quality that belies the slightly unsettling design. This tension — something a little monstrous presented with warmth and playfulness — is central to the character's appeal.

Nordic and Scandinavian folklore provided the primary mythological substrate for Labubu's world. Creatures like the Swedish Tomte, Norwegian Nisse, and the various elves and forest spirits of Old Norse tradition share a conceptual DNA with Labubu — they are liminal beings, existing at the boundary between the human world and a wilder natural realm, capable of both mischief and loyalty.

Lung developed Labubu extensively in his picture book series "The Monsters" before the character made its transition to physical collectibles. The books established the creature's backstory, relationships, and the forest world it inhabits, giving collectors who engage with the source material a richer understanding of what they are holding when they collect a Labubu figure.

The first Labubu vinyl figures were produced in limited quantities for the designer toy market before Pop Mart entered the picture. These early releases — particularly the hand-signed, artist-proof pieces — are now extremely valuable collector items, with some trading at thousands of dollars through specialist art toy auction channels.

THE MONSTERS Full Collection

Labubu is the most famous member of THE MONSTERS universe, but Kasing Lung's world contains several distinct characters, each with its own visual identity, personality, and narrative role within the forest mythology he has constructed.

The relationship between these characters within Lung's picture books is carefully constructed. They are not simply standalone designs but members of a coherent fictional ecosystem, which gives THE MONSTERS a narrative depth rare in the designer toy space. Collectors who read the accompanying books develop attachment to these characters as personalities rather than mere objects — a key driver of long-term collector loyalty.

The Lisa BLACKPINK Effect

In 2024, a series of social media posts by Lisa (Lalisa Manoban), the Thai-born member of the globally iconic K-pop group BLACKPINK, featuring her personal Labubu collection triggered one of the most remarkable demand surges in the history of designer toys. Lisa had been collecting Labubu figures personally for some time before her public posts — this was not a sponsored promotion but an authentic expression of personal enthusiasm.

The immediate consequences were dramatic. Pop Mart retail stores in multiple countries sold out of Labubu product within hours of the posts circulating. Online secondary market prices for Labubu figures — particularly Secret figures and limited editions — doubled and then tripled within days. The hashtag #labubu accumulated billions of views on TikTok and Instagram within weeks. News coverage of the phenomenon spread into mainstream media outlets in the US, UK, Southeast Asia, and beyond.

The cultural crossover aspect of the Lisa moment was particularly significant. It connected two already enormous global fandoms — K-pop and designer toy collecting — in a way that neither had previously experienced. For many BLACKPINK fans who had never encountered Pop Mart or Kasing Lung's work, the Lisa posts were a discovery event. For existing Labubu collectors, the attention brought validation and, for those holding inventory, substantial financial gain.

Pop Mart moved quickly to capitalize on the moment. Limited Labubu restocks, special colorways, and communication strategies all shifted to address the unprecedented demand. The company's stock price on the Hong Kong exchange responded positively, and multiple analysts revised upward their valuation models for Pop Mart's character licensing portfolio.

The longer-term cultural effect was a normalization of blind box collecting among demographics — particularly young women and K-pop fans — who had not previously considered themselves toy collectors. This audience expansion is structural and lasting, benefiting both the Kasing Lung catalog specifically and the broader designer toy market generally.

Kasing Lung's Artistic Philosophy

Understanding Kasing Lung's work requires engaging with the fictional universe he has constructed, not just its commercial manifestations. The forest world of THE MONSTERS is a complete place with its own internal logic, geography, and emotional register.

In Lung's mythology, the forest is an ancient place where time moves differently than in the human world. THE MONSTERS are its original inhabitants — beings who existed long before humans arrived and who persist through a combination of cleverness, solidarity, and an ability to find magic in ordinary things. This is not a world of villains and heroes but of beings trying to understand each other across difference.

The deliberate choice to give Labubu and companions visible teeth — to make them slightly threatening in appearance despite their warm personalities — reflects Lung's core artistic thesis: that strangeness and goodness are not opposites. The monsters are strange, and they are also loving, loyal, and funny. Their unusual appearance is precisely the point — it challenges the viewer to look past surface difference and engage with the inner life Lung has carefully constructed for each character.

This philosophy has made Kasing Lung's work unusually durable. The characters do not become dated because they are not tied to specific cultural moments or trend cycles. The core emotional proposition — find the friend in what first seems frightening — is timeless and universally resonant.

All Labubu Series List 2023–2025

The Pop Mart x Kasing Lung collaboration has produced a substantial catalog of Labubu series since the partnership formalized. Here is a comprehensive list of major releases in the three-year window when Labubu transitioned from cult favorite to global icon:

• Wild Draw (2023): One of the pivotal series. Forest-inspired colorways with chaotic brushstroke element designs. Secret figure became one of the most sought-after in the entire catalog.
• Feel the Music (2023): Labubu with music-themed accessories and outfits. Each figure based on a different musical instrument or genre aesthetic. Extremely popular with lifestyle collectors.
• Have a Seat (2023): Labubu figures in relaxed seated poses with themed furniture/prop elements. Softer color palettes appealing to broader demographics.
• Let's Checkmate (2023): Chess-themed series with each Labubu representing a chess piece. The King and Queen variants received highest secondary market premiums.
• Exciting Macaron (2023): Pastel macaron-inspired colorways — the first Labubu series to break fully into the kawaii aesthetic space. Attracted significant non-traditional collector attention.
• Find the Rainforest (2024): Jungle and tropical flora theme. One of the first post-Lisa series, launched directly into elevated demand conditions.
• Spring is Here (2024): Floral and spring seasonal colorways. Limited production run relative to demand caused immediate secondary market premium.
• I Am Calling (2024): Communication and connection theme — each figure poses with themed telephone or messaging accessory. Viral on social media due to photogenic designs.
• BE@RBRICK Collaboration (2024): A crossover with Medicom Toy's iconic BE@RBRICK format — a collector milestone bringing together two major designer toy universes.
• Space Adventures (2025): Announced Q2 2025. Space exploration theme. Considered one of the most anticipated releases of the year.
• Kasing Lung Signature Series (2025): Artist-signed limited editions for the premium collector segment, expected to debut at Pop Mart flagship stores before limited online release.

Kasing Lung x Pop Mart: How the Collaboration Works

The relationship between Kasing Lung and Pop Mart represents one of the most successful artist-brand partnerships in the contemporary designer toy world. Understanding how it functions provides insight into how both parties benefit and why it has proven so durable.

Pop Mart's business model is built around identifying talented artists with distinctive visual languages, licensing their characters for mass production in blind box format, and applying the company's world-class retail, marketing, and supply chain capabilities to bring those characters to global audiences. Artists retain creative rights to their original characters and intellectual property while granting Pop Mart a license to produce and sell figures based on those designs.

For Kasing Lung, the partnership provided access to manufacturing scale, retail infrastructure, and marketing reach that would have been impossible to achieve independently. A designer toy artist working through boutique channels might sell hundreds or thousands of figures per release. Through Pop Mart, the same artist can reach millions of buyers across dozens of countries simultaneously.

The creative collaboration involves Kasing Lung providing character designs and thematic concepts for each series, with Pop Mart's in-house design and production team handling the engineering, colorway execution, and manufacturing. Lung maintains approval rights over how his characters are represented, ensuring that THE MONSTERS universe retains its authentic artistic identity even at mass production scale.

Royalties from Labubu and THE MONSTERS sales now represent a significant income stream for Kasing Lung, allowing him to pursue his original illustration work — the picture books and gallery art that form the artistic foundation of the characters — without financial pressure. This sustainability loop benefits both the artist and the brand: financially secure artists make better work, and better work builds deeper collector loyalty.

Rare and Limited Kasing Lung Works

Beyond the Pop Mart mass-market releases, Kasing Lung produces or has produced a range of limited works that represent the premium end of his collectible output.

Original Paintings and Illustrations

Kasing Lung's original artworks — oil paintings, watercolors, and digital prints — are sold through gallery exhibitions and select art fair appearances. Original works depicting Labubu, Zimomo, and other characters from THE MONSTERS universe are extremely rare and priced in the $10,000–$100,000+ range depending on size, medium, and provenance. These works have appeared at specialized art toy and contemporary art auctions with consistent buyer interest.

Hand-Signed Artist Editions

Limited vinyl figure editions hand-signed by Kasing Lung himself are among the most coveted pieces in the designer toy world. These typically surface through gallery events, Pop Mart flagship store special occasions, and artist appearances at events like Art Basel Hong Kong. Signed editions command 5–20x premium over unsigned identical pieces.

1/1 Custom Figures

Kasing Lung has produced one-of-a-kind painted custom figures for charity auctions and private commissions. These unique pieces — hand-painted by the artist on standard figure blanks — represent the absolute ceiling of the Kasing Lung collectible market and have sold for $5,000–$50,000+ in auction contexts.

Early Production Vinyl (Pre-Pop Mart)

The limited vinyl figures produced by Kasing Lung before the Pop Mart collaboration, through companies like How2Work and specialty toy producers, are genuine vintage designer toys with documented production histories. These pieces, especially in mint condition with original packaging, represent important historical artifacts of the designer toy movement and trade accordingly.

What's Next: Upcoming Collaborations and Series

Kasing Lung's production schedule for 2025 and beyond reflects both the demand created by his global popularity and his commitment to maintaining artistic quality over commercial volume. Several confirmed and strongly rumored upcoming projects represent the next chapter of THE MONSTERS story.

The Space Adventures series launching in Q2 2025 is the most immediately anticipated release. Beyond that, industry sources point to a major international brand collaboration — potentially a fashion or lifestyle brand with global reach — that would bring Kasing Lung's characters into a new consumer product context, following the successful pattern established by various Pop Mart brand partnerships.

Kasing Lung has also indicated in interviews his intention to continue the picture book series that originated THE MONSTERS, with new volumes expanding the forest world's mythology. New book releases consistently drive secondary market interest in corresponding figure series, as collectors seek to complete their understanding of the narrative universe behind the toys they collect.

Long-term, the question for the Kasing Lung x Pop Mart partnership is how to sustain creative freshness across an increasingly large catalog. The artist's track record suggests an ability to continue generating genuinely new visual ideas rather than simply recycling existing concepts in new colorways — a discipline that has maintained Labubu's cultural relevance even as many of its contemporaries have faded.

How to Verify Authentic Kasing Lung Pop Mart Products

Given the premium secondary market values attached to Kasing Lung products, counterfeiting is a real concern. These verification steps apply specifically to Pop Mart x Kasing Lung pieces:

• Pop Mart authentication sticker: All genuine Pop Mart products carry a holographic authentication sticker with a QR code that resolves to Pop Mart's official product verification page.
• THE MONSTERS logo consistency: The logo and character name typography on authentic pieces matches Pop Mart's official brand guidelines exactly. Counterfeit packaging frequently has subtle font weight or spacing variations.
• Teeth detail: Labubu's distinctive jagged teeth are one of the most complex paint applications in the figure. On authentic pieces, each tooth is cleanly defined with consistent spacing. On counterfeits, teeth often blur together, have irregular sizing, or are painted as a single mass rather than individual elements.
• Eye finish: Authentic Labubu eyes have a specific gloss level and highlight placement. The pupil should have a small reflective highlight. The whites of the eyes should have a clean, smooth finish without brush marks.
• Ear texture: The pointed ears of Labubu figures have a specific texture transition between the inner ear surface (typically a different color) and the outer ear. This transition is clean and precise on authentic pieces.
• Base imprint: The base of every authentic Pop Mart x Kasing Lung figure carries the Pop Mart logo, character name, series designation, and copyright information molded in relief. Check that all text is legible and that the relief depth is consistent with genuine pieces (compare against known authentic photos).

Labubu Series Reference Table

Values reflect April 2025 secondary market data. S = Secret figure. All values are ranges representing typical eBay and StockX transaction prices.

Kasing Lung's Legacy in Designer Toy Culture

Kasing Lung occupies a unique position in the history of designer toys. He is simultaneously a fine art-trained illustrator with a decades-long practice, a cult figure in the underground vinyl toy world, and now — through the Lisa BLACKPINK moment and sustained Pop Mart success — one of the most recognized character designers on earth.

This trajectory from underground to mainstream without sacrificing artistic integrity is genuinely rare. Many designer toy artists who achieve mass commercial success find that their work loses the distinctive quality that made it compelling in the first place. Kasing Lung has largely avoided this fate by maintaining active engagement with the picture book and gallery art dimensions of his practice, ensuring that the mass-market figure releases are anchored in genuine artistic development rather than pure commercial iteration.

For collectors, this matters. An artist with a coherent, growing body of work behind their commercial releases creates cultural assets — collectibles whose value is tied not just to market momentum but to genuine artistic reputation. As that reputation grows and solidifies, the long-term value proposition for Kasing Lung collectibles becomes increasingly compelling.