Leica M11 Monochrom - Story

Leica invited Casper Braat to design a special edition of the Leica M11 Monochrom. The camera’s black-and-white identity mirrors Casper Braat’s approach of carving everyday objects in white Carrara marble without color. Making the Leica Monochrom the natural starting point of their collaboration.

For the collaboration, Leica produced a special limited edition of the Leica M11 Monochrom, with a Leica Noctilux–M 1:1.2/50MM ASPH lens. Each camera carries a limited serial number with special “Leitz Wetzlar” engraving on the top plate of the camera.

The limited-edition cameras are tied directly to classical marble sculptures. Braat reproduced the Leica M11 Monochrom as a nearly 2500kg marble monumental work of art. Inverting its color: the real camera is black; the sculpture is white. Every detail matches precisely. From the engraved limited serial numbers to the markings on the lens. Both the camera and the sculpture have their own marble pedestal in contrasting colors.

The unique marble Leica M11 Monochrom greets visitors at the entrance of the Ernst Leitz Museum in Wetzlar, Germany.

Next to it, a limited edition of ten marble sculptures extends the project. Each piece carries its own engraved limited edition number and is paired with its corresponding Leica M11 Monochrom camera and Leica Noctilux–M 1:1.2/50MM ASPH lens. Forming a one-to-one connection between the camera and the sculpture. Both marble sculpture, camera and lens are presented in their own Leica colored bespoke and designed flight cases.

The craftsmanship of Leica lies in precision and longevity. Every camera and lens is hand-assembled, with components measured and adjusted down to fractions of a millimeter. The process requires time, patience, and the touch of skilled craftspeople, resulting in instruments built to last a lifetime. This devotion to detail and permanence mirrors Braat’s own practice: shaping an object that is both fragile in its form yet enduring in its material. Where Leica preserves moments in time through photography, Braat preserves the camera itself in stone.

These sculptures are limited and exclusively available via Leica Store Lisse, Netherlands.

Casper Braat · Artist Statement

The work of Casper Braat presents the everyday as pure extravagance, a perspective that is driven by his profound fascination with consumer society.

No matter where one is in the world, consumption is deeply entrenched into daily life. Our society values convenience over all else, a drive underlined by a need for luxury, with a fetish for the new. Brands and corporations reign supreme and significantly shape the global capitalist culture. Objects became part of who we are and add status to someone’s existence.

Casper’s sculptures and installations glorify the everyday by lifting the ordinary onto a pedestal. Monumental in material, his work is made to last forever, memorializing the excess of the present for future generations.

Technically sharp, with keen attention to detail and wholeheartedly sleek, Casper’s sculptures, installations and films appear perfectly polished from the surface, but this sublimely static representation of reality is only a mirror held up to the observer. The problematic condition of our indulgent culture becomes clear underneath, and the viewer is asked to wait for their reflection to crack.

With the use of classical production methods, with an emphasis on the handmade, along with his use of materials such as marble and gold, he elevates the common to the iconic and makes the superficial substantive.

We should celebrate our commercialized world, imperfections and all, at least while we still can.