Interview with NFT-Studio: A New Era in Computerized 3D Art

We interviewed Lukas from NFT-Studio based in Poland. They describe themselves as a next-generation NFT platform that allows users to mint, stake, create, buy and sell, and bridge their creations to other networks

1. How would you describe your artistic style?

While it is true that I am known to publish NFT’s (I create them mostly to showcase the technical capabilities of the Internet Computer and our minting engine), I define myself primarily as a very humble Rust and Web Assembly front-end developer and not as an NFT artist.

If I had to define my style, though, I would say that my creations are definitely not character-based; they are abstract, emotionally flat, and structurally complex.

I believe Time has become a key component of Crypto Aesthetics. The Internet Computer allows me to implement time as a key component of dynamic creations.

2. What drew you to NFT creation rather than traditional canvas-based art?

I graduated in Art History, Literature, and Philosophy of Arts. I do have this Art background; however, I have never approached Art in a hands-on manner. Also, I was never really drawn to drawing or painting, and I find traditional materials and tools uninteresting and uninspiring if I'm honest.

NFT creation is exciting, especially on the Internet Computer, and it is a wide, wide world of possibilities that is put right in front of us. Given that NFT Studio allows me to create in 3D and to use time as an essential component, everything seems possible.

3. Are there any artists who have inspired you? What do you like about their work?

Mr. Misang is an artist I admire. I lived in South Korea, where I worked as a part of small crypto teams. I appreciate and understand his depiction of Korean Society. I wrote about him here: https://art.haus/mr-misang-nft/.

He truly brings out the essence of “Hell Korea,” this shared perception that Korea is hell on earth. He started publishing Crypto Art in early 2021, and I am looking forward to his next pieces.

4. What made you create NFTs?

This is a great question, actually. What makes me create NFTs is certainly not the desire to be part of something cool or make money. I love coding and exploring the limits of what is technically possible. What made me create NFTs on the Internet Computer is the desire to express the possible limitations of current technology tastefully.

5. Can you tell us about your project?

Absolutely! NFT Studio is a very young project - we are only five months old.
However, in these five months, we were able to accomplish a lot of things.
Initially, our goal was to create a minting engine that would allow users and artists to mint 3D objects and experiences.

We were able to do this by leveraging DFINITY’s grant program. It is thanks to DFINITY that we were able to bring this minting engine to life.
We then added to the core of our project a marketplace, a gallery, and tools.
NFT Studio is a next-generation NFT platform that allows users to mint, stake, create, buy and sell, and bridge their creations to other networks.

6. How many NFTs will be minted? Can you talk us through the process of how you create the art?

Initially, only 50 NFT’s will be minted and available for purchase.

This number is extremely low, especially if you compare that figure to the number of items available on the Entrepot.app.

These initial NFT’s are part of a collection, our very first one, entitled “Imagine.”

I love the idea of inducing artificial scarcity in markets. Depending on demand, more copies of popular NFTs will be minted.

Then we will invite artists to showcase their creations in our gallery and marketplace.

Users will also be allowed to list NFTs purchased on other marketplaces in ours, opening the door to NFT arbitrage on the Internet Computer.

7. Will Your NFT be able to breed, stake, or ever be in a game?

Yes! The idea of NFTs as idle assets, as something that you purchase that becomes useless over time and sits unused in your wallet, is horrible. We want NFTs to have utility. Beauty and utility.

We want users to be able to earn rewards with their NFTs. Or to be able to purchase NFTs on our marketplace and then use those in games. There is so much that can be done with NFTs.

8. What benefits do you think the Internet Computer has over other L1 blockchains when it comes to creating NFTs?

The main benefit for me is that it is so easy to deploy NFTs and that transferring them is free - that’s right, no need to pay for gas on the Internet Computer, and that is a big plus when it comes to UX.

The Internet Computer is fast, and I believe that we are only scratching the surface in terms of its capabilities.

9. What other art have you seen that excites you in the Internet Computer NFT ecosystem?

Poked Bots! The Art is just phenomenal. There is nothing else like this collection on the Internet Computer.

10. What excites you most about your launch?

What excites me the most is the fact that we are bringing brand new technology to market. Currently, there are no minting engines on the Internet Computer, and elsewhere capable of producing 3D objects and experiences that live on the browser.

No minting engine out there can mint games as NFTs, games in which every element is an NFT. No minting engine is capable of minting and delivering entire movies on-chain.

What the Internet Computer is capable of is truly mind-boggling, and we are absolutely delighted to bring those capabilities to the public's attention through our platform.

11. What advice would you give to anyone trying to enter into the world of NFTs?

My advice would be to bring to market pieces that will challenge the public intellectually, rather than just pieces that will sell.

When the focus is only on selling, we end up with lots of collections that recycle the same ideas for the simple reason that they “work.” I believe that the aesthetic should be at the core of what we do and that this idea that all processes should be subsumed to the desire to sell is counterproductive.

I would also like to suggest creators take advantage of the Internet Computer’s capabilities. We are still in the early days of the Internet Computer, and I believe that artists and creators of all sorts will bring out the true aesthetic potential of the Internet Computer.

12. Do you have further plans to work with ICP Squad in the future after this initial sale?

Absolutely, a long and fruitful relationship with ICP Squad is what I have in mind.

13. Can you envisage a future where the most valuable NFT space is on the Internet Computer?

Yes, absolutely.
I believe the Internet Computer will be ground zero of a Multiverse. What I mean by Multiverse is a collection of Metaverses connected to a main hub (the Internet Computer) via different methods.

The Internet Computer is powerful enough and able to scale to make this vision of a MultiVerse possible.

14. Why do you think NFTs have become so valuable in such a short space of time?

It is a combination of various things. First of all, there is the aesthetic aspect. Crypto Art is a fresh new paradigm; it breaks with the tradition of Art in ways we have yet to understand truly. Aesthetically, Crypto Art is fascinating and intellectually challenging, and this is one of the reasons the public is so hungry for it.

Then there is the market dynamics aspect, which is obvious to any observer and perhaps the most spectacular.

Then there is this shared belief that NFTs are something special, unique, that holders participate in something out of the ordinary.

Finally, I hope we will see more of this in the future; there is the utility factor. NFTs can be useful and be used for a variety of purposes.

15. Tell us about your team?

NFT Studio started as a one-person operation. At first, it was only me, and I coded the entire thing myself and then applied for a grant.

Then, as NFT Studio started attracting users and getting more recognition and Press, the amount of work just exploded, and I could no longer do everything on my own.

I had to hire, and I began a small hiring spree with Mato, our current community manager.

Homer Shillson also came onboard at the same time as an advisor.

Anna is our Project Manager and Shohag, from Bangladesh, is my personal assistant.

Sidc0des is a marvelous developer (perhaps one of the best on the Internet Computer) introduced to me by a dear friend, Remco, who is a very talented developer.

Quint is also on board, and he is currently helping me out with a DFINITY-Arweave NFT bridge.

This is our small team, and you can bet that as we keep growing, more talented individuals will be onboarded as employees.

16. What advantages do you believe you have over other competitors?

We have a technological edge that cannot be reproduced easily. Our minting engine is truly at the core of NFT studio, and so much work went into it that we believe it would take a significant amount of time for other teams to engineer something like this.

Creativity is also what sets us apart. The way we use and intend to use our minting engine blows the competition out of the water, so to speak.

17. Do you have partners? Tell us about them

We do have partners in the Internet Computer ecosystem and beyond. However, for the time being, we would like to keep the identity of those partners under wraps. Once we start making announcements, people will know the identity of these partners and learn about the projects we are working on together. Exciting times ahead.

18. Tell us about the challenges you face while building your project?

The biggest challenges for me are attracting and retaining great talent and ramping up our capacity to execute projects.

19. What are your short and long-term achievements and targets?

My short-term targets are to finally launch our marketplace and minting engine, which will generate revenue directed directly to our treasury. Eventually, we also want to issue a token - however, the situation on the Internet Computer in terms of infrastructure makes that impossible, so we have to wait.

The idea came to us to issue a token on a different chain, then to have users swap that token for Internet Computer native tokens, but after a team discussion, we believe that issuing an Internet Computer native token is the best approach. Currently, Fleek is working on DeFi solutions (sonic), so we believe that we will mint tokens and much more pretty soon!

We are currently “collecting,” so to speak, strategic partners, and our approach is to sign first, close the deal first and execute later.

Gaming studios, Internet Computer projects, and other types of firms have approached us, and I believe there will be no shortage of work for us.

20. Give us some details about your roadmap?

Our roadmap for Q4 2021 and Q1 2022 is quite simple.

Q4 2021 will see the release of our marketplace and minting engine.

We also have a game release scheduled after this - before Christmas.

Q1 2022 will see the release of our NFT bridges - for Arweave, Ethereum, and Algorand.

In Q1 2022 we also hope to issue our token.

We will accumulate partners and onboard investors who share our vision of a future populated with 3D objects and experiences during this time.

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions 😊