The light blue box entered the supermarket: Tiffany & Co. is offering a few hundred CryptoPunks holders the opportunity to render their very own NFT, using enamel and gems, into a very classy Web3 token that can be worn and used in the real world.
On Monday, the luxury brand announced that it would be partnering with blockchain-based software development firm to launch its first NFT — or, in the company’s words, “NFTiff” — just exclusive to 250 CryptoPunk owners, as 250 digital assets give them the opportunity to purchase a one-of-a-kind, custom Punk pendant featuring their pixel. Each 18k rose or yellow gold pendant will feature at least 30 gems, which Tiffany jewelers will carefully color-match to approximate Punk’s digital colors, for a cost of 30 Ethereum, or is currently around $51,000 USD.
Interestingly, neither the popular NFT collection CryptoPunks nor its parent company, Larva Labs, is directly involved in this collection. Instead, like Hypebeast reports, “this is made possible by individual Punk owners leveraging their intellectual property (IP) rights”, creating a relatively novel approach as many brands, luxury and otherlooking to create a customer base in the Web3.
Deepak Thapliyal, CEO of Chain, said: “As a CryptoPunks owner, I see the partnership with Tiffany as a way to make NFT accessible to new collectors as well as new collectors alike. strengthen the existing community that has embraced the art.” On Monday, Thapliyal tweeted a photo his very own Tiffany CryptoPunk pendant, annotated with a flexible price tag of 30 ETH.
According to the press release, the partnership was formed after Alexandre Arnault, vice president of Tiffany & Co. and the son of the president of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, posted his own custom punk pendant earlier this year, fitted with a pair of 3D viewing glasses with sapphire and ruby lenses and yellow diamond earrings. (CryptoPunk #3167 wearing 3D glasses also serves as Alexandre’s profile picture on his social platforms.) But it’s just the latest of the many 21st-century businesses the brand belongs to. LVMH’s ownership has taken over since Alexandre was 30 years old. took the helm of Tiffany’s last year, where he started with an advertising campaign featuring Jay-Z, Beyoncé and a giant Basquiat painting and follow up with collaboration with archetypal skate brand Supreme.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, Arnault pere expressed some concerns about the French corporation entering the Web3. “We have to see what will be the application of the metaverse and the NFT,” Bernard Arnault said during the company’s earnings press conference in January. Vogue Business. “It can certainly have a positive impact – if it’s done well – on the performance of brands, but our goal is to sell virtual sneakers for €10. We don’t care. to that”. This partnership, based on the exclusivity that made both luxury goods and high-priced tokens irreplaceable in the first place, gives the NFT brand collaboration space a little more grandeur.
