Swire - Futureverse Fashion NFTs
To celebrate Swire Properties’ 50th Anniversary, I was commissioned to create 5 unique artworks that would be minted onto the blockchain as NFTs and gifted to recipients. The artwork would be displayed in a specially designed virtual gallery. The series, ‘Futureverse Fashion’, encompasses three artworks depicting porcelain sneakers and two artworks depicting absurdist and futuristic clothing items.
Artwork Concepting and Art Direction
This series explores two unique and different concepts that frame the future versus fashion through digital sculptures of porcelain sneakers and futuristic, absurdist clothing. Gauging the pulse of contemporary culture while referencing history, I reimagined the aesthetic traditions of iconic blue-and-white Chinese ceramics within one of the most complex and desired contemporary clothing items known today, sneakers.
My Futureverse Fashion series taps into the cultural zeitgeist of sneaker culture, whilst visually reinterpreting one of the most enduring creative expressions of Chinese craftsmanship and skill. Fashion and the way in which it is used for individual expression is one of my core interests as a creative, as I strive to represent the refined craftsmanship and techniques from Chinese culture in new and exciting ways for modern audiences.
Although blue-and-white porcelain and sneakers originate from entirely different eras and cultural disciplines, both share unparalleled desire and degrees of ‘mania’ and ‘hype’ from enthusiasts. As collectors historically coveted the unique porcelain to affirm artistic and cultivated tastes, so too, do sneaker collectors covet rare and unique sneaker designs.
Artwork Series Background
Creating the works as NFTs adds an additional layer of meaning to this series. Digital works provide unique opportunities for creative explorations of cross-cultural and cross-era design elements. This series invites the viewer to reflect on themes of self-discovery through cultural heritage references, whilst embracing a modern fashion item as a metonym for individuality and as a marker of status and identity in the Web.3 era.
Many NFT and crypto enthusiasts enjoy counterculture imagery and revel in antagonising traditional institutions' infrastructure in the race to obtain rapid wealth. So once this wealth has been attained the common question is, how do you spend it? Despite serving “no real function other than being really cool objects that your avatar can wear” – these artworks harness the driving forces of our age with visual and satirical appeal.
‘Temple Mountain Porcelain Sneaker’
In the Chinese imagination, mountains were imbued since ancient times with sacred powers as manifestations of nature's vital energy. They attracted rain clouds that watered farmer's crops, concealed medicinal herbs, magical fruit and minerals that held the promise of longevity. In early centuries, men wandered into mountains to purify the spirit and find renewal. Communities gravitated to sacred mountains to build meditation spaces and establish temples. Pilgrims, poets and travellers visited these places to celebrate nature's beauty and retreated to the mountains to find a sense of peace.
'Temple Mountain Porcelain Sneaker' speaks to the themes of seeking and moving oneself to find a place of refuge, self-reflection and meditation. The sneaker's primary function as an item that helps wearers move from one location to another amplifies this theme - proposing the idea that it is the individual who is responsible for finding peace and making the journey to discover it for themselves.
‘Imperial Dragon Porcelain Sneaker’
The dragon is considered the most superior, powerful, wise and regal of beasts. Powerful five-clawed dragons traditionally symbolised the authority of the emperor. The dragon is revered as a divine creature that symbolises good fortune.
'Imperial Dragon Porcelain Sneaker' depicts a dragon chasing after a flaming pearl, emblematic of the creature's supernatural powers. The pearl is associated with energy, prosperity and power. In the context of sneakers, individuals wear specific sneakers because of how they want people to perceive them. People within sneaker culture have traditionally used sneakers to represent social standing, wealth and popularity. Rare sneakers are highly coveted and bring the owner a sense of exclusivity and pride in ownership. Super rare sneakers are only available to very specific individuals. Combing these two concepts together, the artwork explores the ideas of people searching for the things they desire the most whilst showcasing power, status and success.
‘Blue Cranes Porcelain Sneaker’
Cranes play an important role in Chinese mythology. In Chinese culture, the crane is venerated as the prince of all feathered creatures. Throughout imperial times, crane motifs were used on the robes of civil officials to depict their ranks. In literature, cranes are perceived to be elegant, graceful and symbols of longevity.
‘Blue Cranes Porcelain Sneaker' depicts a herd of resting cranes standing beneath golden cranes in flight. A flurry of movement and motion is suggested by the faded crane depictions behind more solid visualisations of the crane.
Shoes are symbols of our own personal determination to head in a particular direction. This artwork represents the theme of moving towards our personal goals and aspirations in an almost effortless and seamless way, mirroring the graceful flight movements of the crane itself. The blue cranes looking up at the golden cranes in flight suggest the impression of finding inspiration in others from their own personal journeys.
‘Octo Jacket’
In this artwork, we imagine a puffer jacket filled with water that is inhabited with a selection of colourful octopus swimming peacefully inside. Absurd and satirical in design, this clothing garment is meant to make the wearer standout and express a serious statement.
Octopus are generally seen to represent willpower, wisdom and skill to get out of difficult situations. To humans, octopus seem mysterious and almost otherworldly. In nature, octopus frequently move, shifting with the water's movements. In a way, the octopus teaches us to work with whatever is 'in motion' vs. fighting against it. The octopus has no spinal column, making them highly flexible according to their environments.
‘Ice Fructus Tee’
In this artwork, we see a t-shirt constructed entirely out of ice and filled with suspended ripe fruits. The colours of the fruit gradually transition from red, orange, yellow and green across the t-shirt. Contrasted against a backdrop of a desert grassland at sunrise, this absurdist garment proposes an impossible reality of frozen fruit in an arid ecosystem.
Fresh fruit traditionally represents fertility, vitality, youth and abundance. However, the fact that the fruit is frozen suggests the idea of suspended life, but only temporarily, as the ice will soon melt away revealing the sweet and fleshy produce.