Olympus has teamed up with urban artist Susie ‘Suzko’ Lowe, fashion photographer Jay McLaughlin and London’s Harrods to offer a strictly limited number of handpainted special edition cameras, complete with matching Vespa scooter.
The Olympus PEN is already one of the best mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras on the market but for many fashion-conscious photographers, what the device was clearly lacking was a makeover by an acclaimed artist.
In a bid to address these shortcomings, Olympus has created the ‘Art Edition’. Available exclusively through Harrods in London, each ‘Art Edition’ camera has been individually hand-painted by Susie ‘Suzko’ Lowe (ensuring that no two are the same), and has its matching Vespa Motor scooter — which is meant to be the ultimate camera case — and crash helmet.
The final cherry on the cake is that it comes with a one-one-one photography lesson with renowned fashion and street photographer Jay McLaughlin who was brought in by Olympus to document the customisation process (he has created a special perfect-bound catalogue detailing the transformation) and to help decide the camera’s specification and accessories. As well as a unique, hand-painted body, each camera also comes with a second, stock camera body for everyday use and one of each compatible Olympus-made lens currently available.
Harrods and Olympus have not confirmed how many Art Editions will be created but they have stressed that this is a strictly limited collection. The Art Edition went on sale yesterday, exclusively at Harrods for £16,000.
