Loopie x Courtside: The Metamorphosis

Loopie speaks to Blur The Border :

Blur: A diaper bag isn’t usually where people expect to find contemporary art. What made this an interesting canvas for you, and what did that tension between utility and expression unlock?

Akriti: The diaper bag felt like an interesting canvas precisely because it is such an everyday object. It is something parents carry constantly, but the category has traditionally been driven almost entirely by function. We wanted to challenge that assumption and ask whether something designed to serve a practical purpose could also say something about the person carrying it.

That tension between utility and expression is really where The Metamorphosis began. The Robin already represents our belief that parents shouldn’t have to compromise their identity for functionality. Turning it into a hand-painted, one-of-one artwork took that idea a step further. It allowed us to explore parenthood not just through what a product does, but through what it can represent.

For us, becoming a parent does not mean replacing the person you were before; it means adding new layers to who you are. The bag became a way to express that evolution through something parents already carry with them every day.

Blur: The campaign is called The Metamorphosis. Beyond the obvious transition into parenthood, what does transformation mean to each of your brands today?

Akriti: For Loopie, transformation is about expansion rather than replacement. We don’t believe becoming a parent means shedding the person you were before. It means adding new layers to that identity. Your priorities change, your world changes, but the things that make you you can continue to exist alongside that new role.

That belief comes from how deeply we think about the early years of childhood and the role parenthood plays in shaping both the child and the parent. I have spent much of my career building in the children’s category, and one thing that has stayed constant is the belief that becoming a parent can fundamentally evolve you as a person. It can make you more aware, more patient and more empathetic, while also giving you greater clarity about what matters.

That is also what made Courtside such a natural collaborator. Courtside has built its world around transforming familiar objects into expressions of individual identity. For us, The Metamorphosis sits at that intersection: taking something as functional as a diaper bag and transforming it into an object that carries a story, a personality and a point of view.

Blur: Parenthood is often represented through functionality. What did beauty allow you to say that function alone couldn’t?

Akriti: Function can tell you what a product enables a parent to do. Beauty allows you to explore who that parent is while doing it. We wanted to move beyond the idea that parenting products need to disappear into the background. Parents still have tastes, passions, humour, creativity and a sense of identity.

The hand-painted bags gave us a way to express those dimensions through something parents already carry with them every day. It also allowed us to acknowledge that parenthood is not one uniform experience. It changes you in different ways, and those changes can be emotional, disruptive, empowering and deeply personal.

The five pieces also allowed us to show that there isn’t one universal experience of becoming a parent. Static, Anchor, Mirror, Shift and Horizon represent different emotional moments within that journey, from the initial disruption to finding confidence and perspective.

Blur: This collaboration pairs a parenting brand with a creative platform in a way that feels unexpected. What made you believe these two worlds belonged together?

Akriti: On the surface, parenting and sneaker culture might seem like very different worlds. But underneath, both are deeply connected to identity. Courtside understands how an everyday object can become a statement of individuality. That is exactly the conversation we wanted to bring into parenting.

The sneaker world has long embraced customisation, collectibility and collaborations, while parenting products have largely remained functional and category-driven. Courtside brought that cultural and artistic perspective to the Robin, while Loopie brought the understanding of what modern parents actually need from the products they carry. That combination allowed us to create something that could be both useful and deeply personal.

It also reflects something we believe strongly at Loopie: children and parents should not be viewed through limiting stereotypes. Just as we believe children deserve products and environments designed around who they actually are, we believe parents deserve products that recognise their individuality rather than reducing them to the role of “parent.”

Blur: Every auction proceeds go to The OpenTree Foundation, making the social initiative part of the project’s core rather than an afterthought. At what point did giving become inseparable from the creative idea?

Akriti: Purpose was part of the thinking from the beginning. Once we decided that these would be five one-of-one pieces rather than a mass-produced collection, the idea of what they could create beyond their individual owners became important to us.

We don’t really think of this as CSR. For us, giving back was a very natural extension of what Loopie believes about childhood and parenthood. If we are building products around a deep respect for children and parents, then contributing to creating a better environment for children is a natural part of that philosophy.

The Metamorphosis is fundamentally about what parenthood adds to your life. The OpenTree Foundation works to protect something fundamental to childhood itself: the freedom to play, grow and develop through play-based learning. That made the connection feel very natural.

So the auction isn’t simply an extension of the campaign. It gives the creative work another life and ensures that its value extends beyond the person who eventually owns one of the five pieces.

Blur: Many collaborations end at a product launch. This one extends into film, art, and philanthropy. Did working across these mediums change the way you think about what a brand collaboration can become?

Akriti: Absolutely. It made us think about collaboration less as creating a product together and more as creating a world around an idea.

The film introduced the emotional premise of The Metamorphosis: that becoming a parent doesn’t mean giving up the person you were. The art took that same idea and gave it a physical form through five individual interpretations of parenthood. The auction then extended the idea into purpose.

I think that is also what made the project particularly meaningful for us. Loopie has always been driven by the idea that the early years of childhood deserve to be looked at differently, and that parents deserve to be supported as individuals rather than just as caregivers. The Metamorphosis gave us an opportunity to bring that larger philosophy into a cultural and creative space. Each medium allowed us to say something the others couldn’t. Together, they made the campaign feel less like a product collaboration and more like a cultural conversation around identity, creativity and modern parenthood.