Kasing Lung Leads ComplexCon Hong Kong as Artistic Director, Elevating Labubu Beyond Collectible

Three limited-edition Labubu figurines designed specifically by Kasing Lung for ComplexCon Hong Kong drew lines from the moment AsiaWorld-Expo's doors opened on March 21, setting the tone for a record-breaking weekend that ultimately pulled more than 36,000 visitors across two days.

Lung's role went well beyond a booth presence. Named Artistic Director of the festival's third edition, he built The Monsters universe into ComplexCon Hong Kong's visual and curatorial spine: immersive installations, a neon Labubu photo installation inside the Complex Studio, and a trio of festival-exclusive figures available only onsite. The 18cm Labubu, 30cm XL Labubu, and 18cm Zimomo, all carrying ComplexCon Hong Kong branding, drew the longest queues at the marketplace from the moment doors opened, and all three variants are now listed as sold out across third-party resale pre-order platforms, with shipments expected mid-April.

That's a structurally different proposition from a standard Pop Mart drop, where product distributes across retail channels and blind-box mechanics create the scarcity. What Lung designed for ComplexCon was a closed system: physical presence was the only entry point. The festival's QR-based entry procedures, app-driven wristbands, and capacity queuing reinforced that architecture. Some lines at the marketplace exceeded 5,000 people.

VIP ticket holders, who paid from HK$4,588, received an exclusive Kasing Lung collectible as part of their package, adding another tier to the drop hierarchy and guaranteeing a piece of the creator's festival output regardless of marketplace queue luck. Attendees in the Complex Studio also received printed neon Labubu photos and downloadable exclusive digital covers, social tokens tied to the event that organizers confirmed will not be reissued.

Lung also used ComplexCon as a preview stage for something considerably broader. In partnership with Lane Crawford and Swiss furniture label USM Modular Furniture, he unveiled a limited-edition display cabinet featuring a co-branded, signed Labubu and a dedicated seat built into the piece. The furniture-art-collectible hybrid is set for official release at Milan's Salone del Mobile in April, pushing The Monsters universe into a product category with no precedent in the Pop Mart catalog.

The attendance figures validated the curatorial wager. The event recorded a single-day peak of over 21,000 visitors on Sunday alone, with nearly half of all attendees travelling internationally. The marketplace grew to over 160 participating brands. Jennie's Hong Kong solo debut headlined the live stage, compounding the weekend's cultural density.

ComplexCon Hong Kong CEO Bonnie Chan Woo framed the Lung appointment in precisely those terms: "There is magic in the power of imagination, and Kasing's way of expressing this world, painted from emotion, memory and wonder, is powerful."

What she was describing wasn't a licensing play. Lung's curatorship transformed each physical release into a chapter of a continuing narrative, which is exactly the mechanic that sustains long-term collector attention between major drops. The next chapter opens in Milan.