A tiny new addition to Rem Koolhaas and OMA’s famed catalog will be launching in the USA in September after a successful European launch earlier this year.
The new Centurion Card design is a collaboration between the Dutch studio and American Express aimed at updating the bulletproof old metallic versions of the card that have been on the market since 2005.
The card’s design is based on the original plan for Boompjes, the never-realized Rotterdam redevelopment project that Koolhaas counts as the first major commission in his home country. Amex came across the Boompjes designs (which feature prominently in several different museum collections including the MOMA) after approaching OMA with the project in 2019. The design was originally centered around the Roman theme that has been synonymous with the company since its inception in America in the late 1950s.
The design is taken from a 1982 silkscreen triptych rendering designed by Koolhaas and Stefano de Martino as part of Boompjes’ development process, which underwent several iterations before being scrapped in the early 90s.
Buying art with a credit card has become (slightly) more acceptable in the market of late. The late property developer-cum-museum founding philanthropist Eli Broad was perhaps the most famous initiator of the questionable trend after using his American Express card to purchase more than $2.5 million worth of art at a 1994 Sotheby’s auction in New York.
Kehinde Wiley was also tapped to design a version of the card, which has a wearable option fused into a Prada leather bracelet.
Applications for the artistic new Centurions are by invitation only. More information on the new cards can be found here.
3 Comments
Gotta love the Olig-archi and their special credit cards.
What's in your wallet?
They even used Rem’s head for the centurion...
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