Non-fungible tokens , or NFTs, are becoming an increasingly popular way of collecting. Should we be celebrating or alarmed? Here are some pros and cons.
The world of contemporary art has recently seen a new obsession – the proliferation of NFT collecting. An NFT is a traceable code that’s indelibly attached to a digital object such as an image or recording. Once someone has bought that object it becomes irrevocably registered to their ID and so they can be said to be owners of the code.
Naturally, it didn’t take long for the fashion industry to catch up with this development – followed swiftly by fashion dolls. Mattel Creations launched its collaboration with Balmain on 11 January 2022, proclaiming “Barbie fashion enters the metaverse“. Other doll manufacturers are known to be watching this space with interest, and may follow suit.
This avatar makes a huge statement in a short voluminous dress with maxi bow detail in pink silk satin. Sold for $20,986.78 to Mark Faour @cpsnft613 on 14 January 2022.
The Barbie x Balmain collection was sold through a virtual auction and consists of three Barbie and Ken avatars, wearing Balmain high fashion. With the highest bidder for each receiving an NFT avatar together with a real-life Barbie-scaled version of their avatar’s outfit.
Ken avatar in a white cotton t-shirt with pink trim topped with a double-breasted blazer and a long peak collar coat paired with loose pleated trousers — all in pink back satin crepe. A Balmain Paris cap finishes the look. Sold for $14,521.08 to Lauren Selig @motherofthemetaverse on 14 January 2022.
Including a physical outfit is something of a departure for hard-core NFT fans, typically the offering is electronic only. Perhaps this was a way for Mattel to test the market and make it more palatable for collectors who actually like to get their hands on a product.
This avatar is wearing a striped sweater dress with a shoulder cut-out, and carrying a pink maxi pillow bag featuring Balmain’s signature monogram and Balmain x Barbie logo. Sold for $12,263.31 to Sana Khalid @Imjustagirl on 14 January 2022.
From the manufacturer’s point of view, the development of NFTs could represent huge cost savings. The dressed doll does not need to progress beyond the design stage, as it will only ever exist in electronic form. There is no need to go through costly prototype, refinement, and factory stages. Nor is there any need for shipping, which has become increasing expensive and uncertain in the current climate. Additionally, if a particular NFT takes off, there is the possibility of huge auction profits.
For the collector, there is the promise of exclusivity. Nobody else can own this particular doll/avatar, it truly is a one-of-a-kind. There are no issues with storage, a perennial challenge for most collectors, as the NFT collection will be stored in the cloud. But is this the way forward? Most collectors I know prefer to own real, physical dolls and relish the escapism and playtime they afford. Not so easy with something that only exists on a screen. It remains to be seen whether fashion doll collectors want to relinquish their doll rooms for a virtual environment.
Someone was going to monetize digital culture eventually. And theoretically, from an artist’s point of view, that has to be a good thing – right? Suddenly, creators don’t have to settle for feeble fees from Spotify or see their images circulate free of charge. They can clean up. Rags to riches stories have helped to make the NFT art market the sentimental bag of air it is. Struggling unknowns find themselves selling NFTs for wildly escalating prices, outsiders who never got near success in the established art world suddenly leap to fame, and the art world, never slow to jump on a bandwagon, has joined in the fun with Christie’s selling a JPEG file by Beeple for $69m last spring.
But there is one small snag: the technology that ensures that the NFT you’ve bought is yours is a blockchain similar to the ones that power cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin or Ethereum. And the computation needed to provide the certification that is the USP of blockchains requires massive amounts of electricity, which comes with a correspondingly heavy carbon footprint. A single transaction on the Ethereum blockchain, for example, currently requires 232.51 kWh, which is equivalent to the power consumption of an average US household over 7.86 days.
Doll-collecting in itself is hardly the greenest of activities, but do we really want to be adding further consumption to our hobby in these times of climate crisis? It might be better to think about rationalizing what we already have (far too much for most of us) and finding ways of reducing our impact on the planet. Just a thought.
Additional research and reference material from The Guardian newspaper.
4 Comments
Gael · January 11, 2022 at 5:14 pm
Fascinating topic for doll collectors. Thanks for the unusual but very timely article, Ian. P.S. I think I’ll stick with the real thing. You can’t change the costume or pose a NFT.
thebolddoll · January 12, 2022 at 9:59 am
Thanks Gael, These are interesting times – and not always in a good way. It’s hard to imagine an entirely virtual collection, but who knows what the future holds. I’ll be sticking to reality for now, too!
SEC · February 5, 2022 at 3:49 pm
Fascinating article. What an amazing and ever-changing world we live in. Thank your for sharing your thoughts and research
thebolddoll · February 6, 2022 at 11:05 am
Thank you for your comment! I’m glad you enjoyed this story – and thanks for visiting TheBoldDoll. You are absolutely correct, these are strange and interesting times – sometimes it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not.