Nick Knight’s debut NFT Collection “ikon-1”
Nick Knight debuts his first NFT drop, “ ikon-1,” in SHOWstudio’s first step into Web3, to bring editorial fashion, style, and beauty to the metaverse.
LONDON , CITY OF LONDON , ENGLAND , August 30, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — August 30th – London, England – Nick Knight, one of the world’s most celebrated fashion photographers, and founder and director of SHOWstudio, is finally bringing his long-standing digital fashion editorial process to the blockchain at the end of summer ‘22 with an innovative NFT drop. Knight is pushing the boundaries of image-making with genre-defining, photorealistic avatars in collaboration with model and Instagram star Jazzelle Zanaughtti, better known by their social media moniker @Uglyworldwide.
These collectable artworks feature digital fashion, make-up, hair, and nails by a cohort of over 40 innovators, degens, and mavericks at the forefront of fashion’s digital future, personally curated by Knight and Zanaughitti. The collection features over 200 unique traits that have been produced to curate 8,000 one-of-a-kind artworks, styled by Zanaughtti themself, further allowing them authorship over their image and personal style and, in turn, preparing each avatar for its editorial debut in the metaverse.
“I love makeup and looks, and [in the metaverse] there’s literally no limits- I can be whoever I want, look however I want- most of them do look like me, but – I always wanted to have crazy pointy shoulders! I couldn’t have that in real life! This is a vision of me in the year 3000.” – Jazzelle Zanaughtti
Nick Knight is one of the earliest adopters of 3D scanning, bringing subjects and fashion into the virtual realm as early as 1998, just before he launched SHOWstudio. With 3D collaborations with icons like Kanye, Bjork, and Lady Gaga, and fashion brands including Burberry and Margiela, Knight is, unsurprisingly, leading the way in bringing the sensitivity and beauty of fashion imagery to the blockchain.
In partnership with long-time collaborator and muse Uglyworldwide, Knight sought to create a collection of NFTs that was unlike anything the Web3 space had seen before. With a goal to work with the most exciting collaborators from both the fashion and Web3 spaces, Knight brings his signature style to an innovative NFT drop resulting in over 8,000 unique iterations of Jazzelle’s form now to be minted on the Ethereum blockchain.
“Fashion needs to change. And the digital world is fashion’s future, in my opinion. Traditionally photographers consider models as a blank canvas for their ideas; that’s not how we work here. I want Jazzelle to be at the very centre of creating their own avatar. I’m not imposing a look on Jazzelle, but giving them a new dimension to exist in; with all the splendour, with all the surrealism, with all the poetry and the whimsy- We’re creating the first NFT with feelings, with emotions, and with a point of view.” – Nick Knight
Over 40 exceptional creatives from both the established and digital fashion ecosystems have contributed to this radical new form of fashion image-making. From digital native fashion designers such as Tribute Brand and Scarlett Yang to newcomers like Linxi Zhu, and even rising star Nusi Quero, the array of virtual fashion in this collection takes Zanaughtti’s avatar into the surreal. In addition to make-up looks created by Jazzelle themself, the project features collaborations with legendary hairstylist Eugene Souleiman, world-renowned nail artist Marian Newman, and long-time SHOWstudio collaborator Tom Wandrag who worked closely with Knight to create the 3D models and add various digital manipulations which make the collection unique. ikon-1 is the beginning of a metaverse fashion project like no other.
“Blockchain and NFT technology offer a totally new way to communicate, it’s a new form of publishing. This project is just the tip of the iceberg, not only in terms of our work in this space but also in the transformative role that fashion can and will have in the increasingly complex virtual worlds that will form the future of our experience of the web. CGI, and in particular video games, are key to this future, so our focus on fashion, games and blockchain will create a hub to develop new forms of experience and aesthetics.” – Tom Wandrag
The 8,000 ERC-721 one-of-one NFTs will be exclusively available to mint via ikon-1.com. Once minted, each ikon-1 will also have its own personal homepage with expanded views of your NFTs. This page will act as your gateway to SHOWstudio’s future Web3 fashion programming, providing early access to upcoming SHOWstudio and Nick Knight projects and drops. From online interactive experiences starring Jazzelle to future collaborations with artists and designers, holding an ikon-1 is the only way to secure access to fashion’s digital future.
By collaborating with such a diverse range of extraordinary creatives, Knight brings the magic of
his fashion imagery to the blockchain. This is the first time that an image-maker at this level has produced a full-fledged editorial project that fully utilizes the exciting possibilities that blockchain and NFT technologies can offer the creative arts. These NFTs can be considered iconic editorial mixed-media artworks and access tokens to the burgeoning Web3 world that SHOWstudio is building in public via projects like this.
According to Nick Knight, “Transparency has always been central to SHOWstudio.” Hence the name Knight claims that “we never accepted advertising because we never wanted people to tell us what we can and can’t do.” This ethos is very much in line with that of the Web3 space, and as Knight and the SHOWstudio team continue to enter the metaverse, now more than ever, according to Knight, “we want to be independent so that we can create projects, just like this.” Discover more about the drop on SHOWstudio’s Discord, Website, and/or Twitter.
Links:
Additional Bios & quotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TB4ZMkXZEMKenMc-1JASLyb6250BrxEnKB0rhuG1Pb0/edit?usp=sharing
INQUIRIES:
For all requests, please contact publicist David Cash at:
ikon-1-press@showstudio.com
David Cash
Cash Labs
david@cashlabs.io
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