Hublot Taps Architect Behind George Lucas’ Museum of Narrative Art, Ma Yansong, as Ambassador

Lily Templeton
·2 min read
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NATURAL AFFINITY: For architect Ma Yansong, revealed Monday as the latest ambassador for Hublot, watchmaking and architecture are “not just about buildings or watches, but instead involve massive relearning to become nonconformists,” he declared.

After all, this Chinese architect is the mastermind behind the futuristic construction that looks like a starship landing in the middle of Los Angeles, soon-to-be home to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, and a pair of towers quickly nicknamed the “Marilyn Monroe” of buildings in Mississauga, Canada.

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Hublot chief executive officer Ricardo Guadalupe lauded Ma’s “mission to explore and contribute to the ideal future of living, along with his advance designs conceived with an affinity for Nature,” noting it echoed what the watchmaker wanted to contribute to its field.

“He is a source of inspiration in his unique and different way of building bridges between Nature and Humanity, creating buildings as constructed Nature,” continued the executive.

The architect describes his approach as “a methodical exploration of humanity, Nature and creativity,” going on to say he and Hublot shared “belief in a symbiosis between the natural and human-made [and] in design more responsive to human emotion, placing equal emphasis on technology and Nature.”

Best known for work that exudes a sense of fluidity, Ma is the founding partner of MAD Architects, created in 2004. It is also behind the Harbin Opera House in China and Rotterdam’s Fenix Museum of Migration in the Netherlands, slated to open in 2025.

Ma has received a number of accolades, including an international fellowship from the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2010 and being named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2014. He has also been an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California as well as the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture in Tsinghua University.

In his new role for the watchmaker, Ma joins designer Samuel Ross, pianist Lang Lang and artist Daniel Arsham, who kicked off his tenure with a 20-meter sundial cut into the snow in Zermatt, Switzerland.

Soccer star Kylian Mbappé and tennis champion Novak Djokovic are also ambassadors for the brand.

While there are no plans for a Ma-designed Hublot timepiece, the architect has recently collaborated with Fendi for its men’s fall 2024 collection, working varnished yellow aluminum contours into a Fendi Peekaboo bag and futuristic sneakers.

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