Porsche actually built an inflatable swan 911

Tuesday, 23 November 2021

Porsche liked Chris Labrooy's surrealistic 911 art so much they featured in the company's in-house magazine last year.

Late last year digital artist Chris Labrooy came out with some fantastically surreal car art with a series of images featuring Porsche 911s in situations you wouldn’t normally expect to see Porsche 911s in – mainly, swimming pools.

Labrooy, who hails from Scotland and is a graduate of the Royal College of Art, is something of a Porsche fan, and a fan of things that are a bit absurd, so his collection of 911’s melting, relaxing on a couch, hanging in nets, sitting in swimming pools or, yes, floating on them as inflatable pool toys, nails both of those things rather nicely indeed.

So nicely, in fact, that Porsche even got in on the act and gave him a push at the time, running a piece about him in its in-house 9:11 Magazine.

Chris Labrooy reimagined several 1973 Porsche 911s as inflatable pool toys. Porsche has now built one, because why not?

'I’ve always been into cars, ever since I was a small boy,” said Labrooy 'I’d play with them, then I would draw them, then drive them in computer games. Even as a youngster I was fascinated by the design of cars.

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“I remember seeing an episode of Top Gear where they went to the Royal College of Art and from the next day onwards I was telling my friends that that was where I wanted to go. To study car design.'

And while cars feature heavily in his art, he didn’t end up actually designing them. Well, not until now, that is, because it turns out that Porsche liked his art so much the company decided to make a full-size version of one of them to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary in China.

The piece in question is a rather brilliantly weird inflatable pool toy rendering that features a trio of pink, yellow and white 1973 911 Carrera RS’s reimagined as an inflatable flamingo, rubber duck and swan respectively.

Porsche chose to recreate the swan in real life from a 996-generation 911, which was the first car the company sold in China.

Labrooy himself is based in Scotland and his artworks are seen across Europe and the United States for advertising, editorial, and publishing, with clients ranging from fashion labels to airlines. And he currently owns a 718 Cayman GTS.

While Porsche (sadly) won’t sell you a giant inflatable pool toy Swan based on a 911, Labrooy will sell you prints of his art from his website, which is worth a look, even if you aren’t buying.

But we really do hope Porsche is working on a duck and a flamingo to go with the swan as well.