Tag Archives: nfts

Bang & Olufsen brings its design DNA to the metaverse with its first NFTs

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Perhaps it was thanks to Mark Zuckerberg’s and Meta’s recent event that the Metaverse and its related but dissimilar buzzword Web 3.0 came back under the spotlight. After a long stretch of near silence, companies and brands are once again showing interest in this still ambiguous market, especially when it comes to controversial non-fungible tokens or NFTs. After all, NFTs that can sell for thousands of dollars apiece are perfect for limited edition collectibles that put the brand’s stake in future virtual worlds. Granted, most people still can’t make heads or tails of all these concepts, but there’s already a good number of collectors and believers that are willing to show their support with their money and other resources. It’s for this group of fans that Bang & Olufsen had decided to take the plunge into the world of Web 3 and the metaverse with an NFT collection designed to show off its creative chops more than its audio expertise.

Designer: Bang & Olufsen

Although the technologies and details swarming around NFTs are indeed complicated, the basic idea behind its pull is understandable from a human perspective. In essence, it is related to owning a unique and singular digital artifact, similar to the idea of physical property that can’t be cloned perfectly. In a digital world where it’s trivial to copy files and images, such a kind of ownership sounds radical and revolutionary. Of course, implementation has been far from perfect, leading to the rather contentious position of NFTs, especially among artists, designers, and other creatives.

That hasn’t stopped big brands from proving they can go with the flow and the times, and Bang & Olufsen’s “DNA Collection” NFTs are in the same vein. The company best known for its exquisite audio equipment has announced an upcoming collection of 1925 NFTs, a nod to the year the company was founded. Rather than just a simple NFT drop, as these events are usually called, B&O is putting a rather unique and fun twist that tries to share the spirit of creativity with its music-loving community.

The DNA collection revolves around some of its most elegant products, including the Beogram 4000 as well as the Beoplay A9 and Beolab 90 speakers. These have been distilled down to key parts like legs, frame, front cover, and back cover, which are then combined with a custom-made range of digital product materials. During the minting process, buyers will be able to get a random selection of products and product materials that will allow them to mix and match designs for a truly unique B&O product that they’ll be able to display in their future virtual home in the metaverse.

The DNA Collection is meant to showcase Bang & Olufsen’s design heritage over the decades, which is an admittedly surprising venture for the company. While the brand is definitely praised for its design chops, it is, at its heart, an audio company, something that won’t translate so smoothly to Web 3.0. NFTs are also still a divisive topic within the design community, especially because of their environmental repercussions. In that regard, B&O promises that it has chosen a blockchain that reduces its climate impact, even if that impact can still be quite significant.

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RIMOWA luggage jumps into the metaverse phygital market with RTFKT NFT collab

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After a short period of relative silence, the metaverse became a hot topic again in no small part thanks to Mark Zuckerberg’s and Meta’s most recent buzz, which, unsurprisingly, split people into camps again. Some say or are hoping that the metaverse is already dead and, along with it, the more controversial NFTs. If that were the case, it seems that nobody told luxury luggage maker RIMOWA about it because it seems that the marque will be diving right into this mess when others seem to be silently stepping out. RIMOWA has partnered with Nike-owned digital fashion brand RTFKT to bring its iconic luggage brand to the metaverse via two NFT drops, but RIMOWA fans can rest assured that they can still get this upcoming limited edition luggage in physical form as well.

Designer: RIMOWA x RTFKT

The metaverse will eventually happen and become our present, though many argue that we’re still ways off from making that a reality. Even more problematic are NFTs, which were supposed to bring the concept of unique ownership of goods from the physical world to the digital realm. Camps are still split on whether it’s a boon or a bane, but many companies have already put a stake down on those nascent ecosystems to appeal to early adopters, especially among designers and collectors.

While news about big brands embracing NFTs seems to have mellowed down a bit, RIMOWA is stirring things up again with a “phygital” campaign in partnership with RTFKT (pronounced “artifact”). The latter has been making a name for itself in bringing big brands into metaverse spaces, specifically via those highly-debated NFTs. “Phygital” is the new buzzword coined to describe products that are getting both a physical as well as a digital release, the latter usually through NFTs to ensure their uniqueness and exclusivity.

That’s probably a good thing for RIMOWA loyals that have a few geeky inclinations because the limited edition “Meta Artisan” Original Cabin Luggage is quite a looker. Its surface is covered with a pixelated “Anti-FUD” pattern print that looks like a corrupted QR code spread across the luggage. Only 888 of these will be made available, both digitally and physically, as a nod to the triple-digit figure that has become synonymous with good luck in the crypto community.

The collaboration will also produce 2222 WorkerBots NFTs that will be like collectibles for this virtual world made by RIMOWA and RTFKT. These admittedly cute robots won’t have physical counterparts, unfortunately, and you’ll only be able to enjoy their existence on AR platforms or digital displays. The unique-looking luggage could spark a bit of interest as well as controversy, as you won’t be able to buy the physical luggage separately and will have to buy the NFT version first for around $3,000 at a “forging” (redemption) event later on.

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Minted NFT coins turn Ether cryptocurrency into a collectible art

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As if cryptocurrencies weren’t confusing enough, here’s something that mixes it up with NFTs and the Metaverse, too.

The Metaverse might be the big buzzword right now, thanks to many companies like Meta, formerly Facebook, trying to push their vision to the masses, but there was a time not too long ago when there was a different tech craze gripping the world. Cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, hit mainstream media hard to the point that even lawmakers were starting to scramble and struggle to make sense of it all. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, a cousin of these blockchain-based digital entities, also took the world by storm, particularly in art and design circles where this new kind of ownership still remains a bit controversial. Almost cooking up a perfect storm, a designer and artist duo are bringing all these together into an NFT that almost makes cryptocurrencies a bit more approachable or at least more visible.

Designers: Ben Vessey and Mark Jenkins of Minted

Although they are always associated with money, cryptocurrencies are difficult for most people to grasp, particularly because these aren’t exactly represented as anything but incomprehensible numbers and letters. When people think of money, they will at least think of figures separated by commas or dots. Most will even think of paper bills and coins to make the connection to something familiar that has been around, even going back to the ancient Greeks. Cryptocurrencies have thrown all preconceived notions out the window, but NFTs and the Metaverse present an opportunity to turn things around a bit.

An NFT is a form of blockchain, but unlike cryptocurrencies, each one is non-interchangeable. That means it can be sold and traded, like digital equivalents of physical goods, but they’re often associated more with supposedly rare digital artworks that sell for thousands to millions of real-world dollars. NFTs don’t always have to be artwork, though, and can actually be used for anything that has a digital representation, including, in this case, NFT coins.

Minted was conceptualized as an answer to the question of what Ether, the currency for the Ethereum platform, would look like if it were an actual coin. Just like an NFT, however, a Minted coin is going to be a one-of-a-kind digital artifact, though they would have fixed Ether values. The coins will be available in Ether denominations of 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 5. Each coin, however, will be “handcrafted” and unique, so they still retain the unique value, even if they just look like digital coins. And, of course, these will only be circulated via Ethereum since that’s the only place where Ether will have any value.

 

Of course, Minted doesn’t exactly make “crypto,” as they are called, suddenly more approachable and more understandable. They do, at least, give them a more visible form that could help lead towards a better comprehension of these newfangled technologies and concepts. It is also an attempt to beat governments to the punch in creating NFTs that will be associated with blockchain currencies. After all, if cryptocurrencies are designed to decentralize the distribution of assets, it would be ironic if a single entity like a government would co-opt that to become the new centralized bottleneck of these new systems.

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NFT display concept lets you show off your other riches alongside pricey digital art

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NFTs are meant to be shown off like the overpriced art pieces that they are, so this concept tries to do so in a way that is also useful, even if you don’t have any NFTs to your name.

NFTs, short for the almost indecipherable “non-fungible tokens,” are currently controversial within the art and designer communities. Setting those debates aside, these digital artifacts have always been envisioned to create an experience similar to owning an exclusive piece of art. That, of course, means that it comes with some sort of bragging right that goes beyond just saying you own an NFT. You have to flaunt it as well, and what better way to do that than by putting it on a pedestal along with your other tokens of wealth or affluence, like jewelry, watches, and even rare toys.

Designers: Jiwon Seo, Juwon Kim, Hannah Kim, Anna Kim

At its most basic, an NFT is proof of ownership of an exclusive, one-of-a-kind, or limited edition digital artifact, which often means a piece of digital art or a virtual equivalent of a physical object. This makes NFTs more appropriate to be displayed in ways that other people can see them as proof and boast of ownership. There have been a few concepts created in the past years on how NFTs should be displayed, ranging from futuristic holographic cubes to wall panels mimicking physical framed art.

The Meta’O concept stands somewhere in between, envisioning something that is both obviously technological but can also be at home in the living room, sort of like a smart speaker today. It actually comes in two independent parts, both of which are made from unpainted recycled materials. This gives the object a unique visual identity while also affording a sense of relief that there won’t be any paint that will peel off over time.

The part that actually displays an NFT is a circular screen that sits on top of a magnetic ball. On its own, it can safely sit on a flat surface without rolling off. Nested inside the tray, however, the ball allows the owner to position the screen at any angle while also being charged wirelessly.

That tray is imagined to be a place for other proofs of your social status. Your NFT can be displayed alongside your gold-plated watch and bracelets, or the entire tray can be filled with other trinkets on top. This dual-purpose design would allow the owner to save up on space or display trays and have more money to spend on buying more NFTs.

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Bulova Computron D-CAVE watch mashes gaming and NFT in a classic LED timepiece

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Digital watches might be sundry and common these days, but they were quite revolutionary back in the 70s, especially during the LED craze. Although it definitely eschewed conventional digital watch designs, Bulova’s Computron was so beautifully quirky in its mix of luxury and technology that it became an icon of its time. We are at the cusp of another major shift in technologies and product designs, and Bulova wants to again be at the forefront of this “phygital” revolution with a special version of the Computron, now with a hand inside the Metaverse jar.

Designer: Bulova

The original Computron itself, as well as its more recent “Re-Edition,” is already a thing of beauty. Designed with an unconventional trapezoidal body, the watch’s unique shape allows wearers to see the time without having to twist their wrists. That is why it has earned the nickname “drivers’ watch” and has since then been unparalleled in that design.

Bulova is now bringing the Computron back with a twist that tries to appeal to a very different crowd. Inspired by gaming aesthetics, the Computron D-CAVE edition watch sports a black stainless steel case with black silicone straps and luminous green highlights that match the watch’s green LED time display. It’s a design that would call to mind gaming brands like Razer and Alienware, which is probably what Bulova and D-CAVE were aiming for.

More interesting, however, is the special edition of the watch that has a mineral crystal case top serving as a window into the watch’s internals. This special edition also comes with an NFT drop that will let buyers wear a digital version of the watch in the Decentraland Metaverse platform. This special edition is still marked as coming soon, but you can already buy the regular “Iconic Edition” for $450 or cryptocurrencies just to complete the circle.

Curiously, Bulova sees the Computron D-CAVE as an entry into a new way of living, putting down its stake in the Metaverse. It positions its first-ever “phygital” product as a representation of how the physical world will integrate with digital life. Bulova naturally also sees the Metaverse as an opportunity to express love for certain brands in the digital realm, like a certain watchmaker’s iconic classic timepiece turned gamer’s lifestyle product.

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Zaha Hadid Liberland gets dibs on the Metaverse real estate business

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Just because the Metaverse world sounds and feels infinite doesn’t mean you can’t lay claim to a piece of virtual land.

A lot of the coverage about the Metaverse revolves around virtual objects, virtual currencies, and virtual travel, focusing on things that are always transient in one way or another. Given how we can’t feasibly spend 100% of our time in virtual worlds, it’s not surprising that few narratives exist about more permanent places in the Metaverse. World-famed Zaha Hadid Architects might be changing that with what might be its most ambitious project yet, creating a virtual equivalent of a real-world country whose very existence is still in dispute.

Designer: Zaha Hadid Architects

The Free Republic of Liberland, which almost sounds redundant, is a self-proclaimed micronation established in 2015 on a disputed parcel of land between Croatia and Serbia. Ever since its infancy, ZHA has been involved through its principal Patrik Schumacher. As to be expected, the political and legal journey toward Liberaland’s international recognition has so far been a rough journey for its proponents, but the minds behind it are taking their efforts to the next level by laying a claim on parts of the Metaverse.

Liberland Metaverse is pretty much the virtual equivalent of the real-world land, which will probably see fewer disputes considering it will almost be impossible for it to infringe on other virtual lands. The Metaverse version will also host ZHA’s parametric and curvy architectural designs, but with more freedom to break free from the rules of physics. Some virtual structures will seemingly defy the laws of gravity, for example, and will be able to showcase Zaha Hadid’s visions more closely because of that freedom from real-world restrictions.

The virtual country will still have ties to the real world, though, mostly in function. There will be a city hall that virtual residents and visitors can visit, as well as spacious plazas for exhibitions and virtual relaxations. No Metaverse location would be complete without a space dedicated to NFTs, of course, and there will also be locations dedicated specifically to conducting activities around cryptocurrencies.

Liberland Multiverse is still a work in progress, but one goal is to have plots of virtual land for sale that would translate to stakes in the physical Liberland as well. This is going to be trickier to sell, no pun intended, given the micronation’s current status, but it could set a precedent for how the real estate business might be able to utilize the Metaverse to its advantage.

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Guardians of Fashion brings NFT fashion and entertainment business into the metaverse

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Guardians of Fashion 2

Those who grew up playing Second Life or The SIMS have probably thought the Metaverse will be something like the old games. In many ways, it is.

The Metaverse is a new platform where people can interact virtually. The idea was hyped even more by Mark Zuckerberg back in October when the Facebook rebrand officially happened. One important idea was that the metaverse would be pushed further.

Designer: OWNFT World

Guardians of Fashion GOF Avatars

Many people are saying metaverse is more like Second Life because residents of the virtual realm are almost real. We’re only referring to the avatars that pretty much represent actual humans.

In the metaverse, the virtual version of yourself can do things you can also do in real life. As with the Second Life game, residents can get jobs, purchase properties, earn money, and buy and sell goods. You can also do other trivial things like watch movies with friends. It has an economy and currency. The latter can be sold and bought with fiat currency. Everything is done in virtual reality and soon, we’ll get to experience all these and more within the metaverse.

A new virtual economy is about to open. The Zuckerburg-backed platform will soon be home to companies and individuals. As more people are making their avatars, the virtual world will soon be a place where metaverse careers and jobs will help you earn bucks.

OWNFT World, a Singapore-based company, is working to introduce some 6,888 avatar non-fungible tokens that are built on the Ethereum blockchain. The plan is to introduce the system before the month of February ends. Officially called Guardians of Fashion (GOF), the group behind this has partnered with Warner Music Group. Other fashion brands and networks are already part of the ecosystem to launch shows and videos people can watch.

Guardians of Fashion GOF Model Avatar Launch

Before a video, show, or series is produced, there needs to be casting. Avatars can be cast but they have to pitch their NFT avatars. Pitching an avatar can cost you 0.18 ETH (Ethereum) which is about $557 (USD) as of this writing.

A part of the revenue can be received by the avatar’s owner. Payment will be GOF community tokens that you can exchange for other digital assets. The big idea is for a larger NFT project that can earn people passive income. It’s mainly putting the metaverse into something more useful instead of just being a more advanced virtual world.

The metaverse platform will continue to expand. The possibilities are endless and the Guardians of Fashion is just one idea. This can be an evolution of the virtual world that is becoming an extension of real life.

Guardians of Fashion GOF Avatars NFT

Guardians of Fashion (GOF) is mainly for the entertainment and fashion business. It’s described as a virtual metaverse modeling agency, letting you live your dreams of becoming a model. At least in the metaverse, you can be a model and become an instant celebrity.

Avatars will be owned and controlled by real human owners. The virtual world operates with NFT (Non-Fungible Token) where NFT business people are thriving. NFT avatars can live and act in virtual reality where their virtual talents can shine through. We’re guessing this will be something digital influencers will be able to do well.

GOF Avatar Model

GOF Avatar Sample

Guardians of Fashion GOF Avatars NFT Models

Believe it or not, GOF is considered sustainable because these GOF Avatar NFTs can be used by real-world companies. Such can happen, enabling them to increase value, especially when featured in videos or webtoons. Instead of getting real celebrities, big brands can probably just go for avatars.

So everything is virtual. It’s really like The SIMS or Second Life. It’s more like the latter as the game already made some people earn money in real life from years ago. With big brands like Gucci, Nike, and Disney working on their metaverse presence, we can expect more fashion brands will jump on the bandwagon.

GOF Avatar Guardians of Fashion

The goal is for NFT avatars to become celebrities in their own right. But first, you have to get in the NFT marketplace to create your avatar, customize, and fully own it. The digital character that will be created will be yours alone. Each one of the 6,888 unique erc1155 NFT talents is hand-drawn and customized using unique traits from some 550 assets. You can act as its manager so the digital character can make money.

Guardians of Fashion GOF Avatars NFT Models

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NFT collectibles designed to revolutionize the digital art world

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Have you heard of NFTs? I’m sure you have because the word is being tossed around like confetti these days! But in case you haven’t, or in case you’re wondering what on earth they are, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! The full form of NFT is non-fungible token. An NFT is basically the registration of ownership of a unique digital object on a blockchain. This unique or ‘non-fungible’ digital object is usually any form of digital media. It could be a piece of art, drawings, music, or even Jack Dorsey’s first-ever tweet! Anything digital can be an NFT, although this tech is mostly being utilized by digital artists to sell their digital artwork. Everyone has a whole lot of opinions on NFTs. Some are pro, while some are against. But the bottom line remains, whether you love them or hate them, they sure are trending! So, we’ve curated a collection of NFTs that were sold, for well, mind-boggling prices – from the first digital NFT house that was sold for over $500,000 to an NFT that is basically DIY instructions for making a candle – each NFT on this list will leave you with some serious questions on your mind!

1. Coral Arena

OMA New York, Charlotte Taylor, and Nicholas Préaud collaborated to create the NFT ‘Coral Arena’. It was sold to promote the ReefLine sculpture park, which will be built off the coast of Miami Beach. In fact, an actual physical sculpture of ‘Coral Arena’ will be displayed at the underwater park! The NFT was released on Aorist‘s climate-forward NFT marketplace, powered by Algorand.

2. You are an agent of free sunlight

Robert Montgomery released a series of 100 NFTs called ‘You are an agent of free sunlight’. It critiques the pervasiveness of the digital world. He points out how invasive this world has truly become, and how the digital space literally tracks and analyzes our activities. The work is very text-based, with an eerie doomsday feel to it. It was released by the consulting agency New Pavilion.

3. Mars House

Artist Krista Kim sold the first NFT digital house in the world for… $512,000! Deemed Mars House, Krista designed the home in 2020 using the software ‘Unreal Engine’, in an attempt to create a space that represented her philosophy of ‘meditative design’. The digital house was sold for 288 Ether on SuperRare, an NFT marketplace.

4. Bocci’s DIY Instructions

Bocci is literally selling DIY instructions for making 64 of its candles in the form of NFTs! The virtual kit includes the design method on how to create Bocci’s unreleased candle prototype. It is being sold as a limited edition of 64 candles on Rarible. “We were delighted when we realized that NFTs could allow the idea to finally travel – albeit virtually,” he said. “We can’t ship one to you but if you like, you can make one yourself!”, said Bocci co-founder Omer Arbel.

5. Kelly Wearstler’s Digital Home

Krista Kim’s first NFT-backed digital home (which was sold for over $500,000) was a major source of inspiration for many artists! American interior designer Kelly Wearstler followed suit by designing a virtual garage for LeBron James’ electric hummer. Wearstler wanted to create a “super sexy home in the desert”, wherein James’ hummer could be placed as a beautiful sculptural centerpiece! She drew inspiration from California’s modernist architecture and landscape.

6. Adidas x Bored ape yacht club, Pixel vault’s PUNKS comic, and Crypto investor gmoney

Adidas has joined forces with Bored ape yacht club, Pixel vault’s PUNKS comic, and Crypto investor gmoney. The collaboration was announced via a short video clip featuring avatars of the three collaborators skydiving to a massive Adidas logo. Adidas has entered the NFT world, “to see every one of its inhabitants thrive. the Metaverse is where anyone can express their most original ideas and be their most authentic selves, in whatever form they might take. and thanks to the blockchain (and NFTs), those pioneers can own a piece of what they create.”

7. Homesick

Alexis Christodoulou sold Homesick – his nine looped and animated videos of dreamy landscapes that harmoniously combine man-made and natural environments! His Instagram-famous renderings sold for $340,000 on Nifty Gateway, an NFT marketplace.

8. The MIDI Synth

Collaborating with digital artist Lirona over his latest synth creation, Love Hultén’s latest synth is an audiovisual treat. The MIDI Synth, handcrafted by Hultén, is paired with a 15-inch display that showcases Lirona’s digital work, titled #synthboi. Limited to 10 synths, each digital work is, in fact, an interactive NFT that the buyers get to own when they purchase the synthesizer.

9. Untitled_SharkRobot

Hajime Sorayama released his first limited edition NFT animation called Untitled_SharkRobot. The NFT features the Sorayama Shark who was the main character of Sorayama’s ‘Aquatic’ series, which was released decades ago. The NFT comes in two variants – a 20-second one priced at $299 (making it more accessible), and a rarer 60-second one priced at $3700.

10. Morons

An original Banksy art piece, called ‘Morons’, was burned and digitized! ‘Morons’ satirizes an iconic picture of Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ being sold in 1987. The sale was considered a record-breaking one, and Banksy’s art piece has “I can’t believe you morons actually buy this shit” inscribed on it. The art piece was bought for $95,000 by the group, Burnt Banksy, from the Taglialatella Galleries in New York, then burned during a live stream, converted into an NFT, and placed on SuperFarm. A literal physical artwork was converted into a digital asset! Astonishing much?

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This holographic display could be how you do video calls in the Metaverse

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Not everyone will be keen on wearing even glasses to experience this metaverse thing. Fortunately, you might not have to, especially if this hologram-in-a-box can deliver the next best thing.

The metaverse is being hyped as the logical evolution of virtual reality, blending the physical and the digital in a single space. Most of the discussions and implementations, however, involve placing ourselves in a virtual space, often with the use of mixed reality equipment like headsets. The metaverse can also work the other way around and bring the digital into our physical realm, most likely through holograms. We’re still ways off from the holograms of sci-fi, but this new holographic display is trying to bridge the gap until that perfect time.

Designer: PORTL

Click Here to Buy Now!

Imagine trying to keep in touch with family members in a future where the metaverse has become our world. You’d expect that we’d don glasses or headgear that would seemingly teleport us to a common space, maybe in a virtual house bought with your NFTs, but that can be cumbersome to set up for a brief call. What if you could just bring that person virtually into your house instead? That’s where holograms come in, but we’re not quite there yet when it comes to simply project people in just about any physical space.

Startup PORTL, not to be confused by Meta’s Portal video conferencing device, envisions installing cabinet-sized holographic displays in places where they might be of use, like in stores, meeting rooms, or even classrooms. Not everyone will be able to afford these PORTL EPIC boxes, though, which is why the company revealed its desktop, the PORTL M. Again, not to be confused with Facebook Portal, but the associations are really hard to avoid, especially given the design.

PORTL M is what the very first Facebook Portal would be if it were extruded into a box form to accommodate a holographic display inside. The box can be set up in either landscape or portrait orientation, depending on the content you want to display. The device itself lacks some charm, looking like a nondescript plastic box with rounded corners and a curved back. The magic, of course, is in how it will try to make people and things really look like the three-dimensional objects that they are. Or at least that’s the idea.

The PORTL M is intended to be used for full-body video chats, browsing and examining products before you buy, or even for serious work in industrial and medical fields. And, of course, you can also use these boxes to display your NFTs, at least if you have around $2,000 to spare for one.

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What would thrift shopping look like in the metaverse?

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Built around the idea of a digital universe (or a metaverse), Around is a unique approach to thrifting, that facilitates the exchange of original products through online trading… and relies on NFTs to act as a proof of product authenticity as well as a sort of warranty card.

Sure, cryptocurrencies and NFTs are an absolute curse for the environment, although this new conceptual VR marketplace is certainly doing its part by promoting a somewhat sustainable culture of second-hand product ownership and an extension of a product’s life cycle. Meet ‘Around’, a metaverse marketplace for your physical goods. Much like a digital storefront like Amazon or Shopify, it allows products to be bought and sold, although it lets individual sellers sell their own belongings, sort of like a virtual garage sale – think eBay but better. What’s interesting about Around is that it doesn’t just let you buy and sell used goods, it’s a comprehensive virtual world where even your digital avatar buys and sells items too… so a pair of actual Jordans purchased in the physical world would also mean that your digital avatar would own a pair of Jordans.

Secondhand products are simply auctioned off to the highest bidder in this virtual universe. Your digital character participates in a bidding war with other characters, and the person who wins the bid doesn’t just get the actual product shipped to them, they also get the bragging rights of their avatar owning a digital copy of the product too (similar to buying skins on Fortnite). Along with the digital copy, your avatar even acquires the product’s NFT, which acts as proof of ownership and authenticity. An NFT is minted for each individual product, sort of like a digital badge, and when you sell a product, the NFT gets transferred to its new owner. The NFT serves as a warranty certificate in the real world, allowing brands to live up to the promise of their product’s quality, and for the added flair, it displays as a digital badge in your digital world, allowing you to flaunt your swag in the real world as well as the metaverse!





What Around proposes isn’t something radically new, but it does package a few existing concepts, like product ownership, thrifting, NFTs, and the metaverse into a singular cohesive solution. It seeks to reinvent how youngsters shop in the future, offering an interactive, immersive virtual storefront that people can practically line up in front of to buy limited-edition merch, effectively turning the digital store into a new social space.

Designer: Jeongin Lee

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