Volume: I | Del & Lord Truffington
5 January 2022
Creator Interview with Del
What does it mean to be a Pak collector?
“Being” a Pak collector is more like a Membership to “new thought”. Every piece allows you to discover some new aspect of economics of philosophy or paradoxes. You start off caring about Pak’s ability to create value for the collector then you end up realizing that value is a side story to another narrative.
Life before NFTs?
I’ve been in the entertainment industry for over a decade as a digital artist and have worked on a lot of things that you’ve definitely seen billboards of. My actual IRL identity has thousands of followers in another Twitter- I’ve completely abandoned it to start over a web3 identity. I much prefer it over here. I’m incredibly excited about this space.
Growing up, what did you collect?
Ideas.
When did you first start creating?
My strongest love was actually clay. I’m a competent clay sculptor and even made a very successful pencil drawing Instagram account (with tens of thousands of followers). My digital work allows me to utilize different 3D software and I use those to now create my own NFTs. I haven’t touched analogue art since I discovered NFTs but I know that I will again. I was a collector for 9 months before selling my own NFT.
Do you have a favorite work of art?
Yes. Michelangelo’s Pieta.
Which artists do you enjoy?
I think that I spent a long time being influenced by comics, which is where my love of figurative art comes from. Now, I’m most genuinely interested in Renaissance Artists who’ve been dead for hundreds of years. Grassetti, I think is influenced similarly and that’s probably why I love his work.
Do you have any literary influences?
Art History, World History, and Cerebral Sci-Fi novels are basically 50% of my brain.
Do you have a “technical” or “formal” background?
Both-ish. I definitely have a strong artistic background. My foundational skills were in graphic design before I developed my drawing, sculpting, and digital painting abilities - but you can’t really excel in the digital space without adopting more and more technical software. So that was more a ‘side effect’ of being in “the space” for so long.
What is the role of an artist or creator in society?
Whatever the collector or admirer of art say they are.
Can you take me through your creative process?
Before making anything, I just use a notepad to write ideas. For me the visual side comes after the idea. I’ll write the ideas, the metaphors, and the visual symbolism down as bullet points. Then the visuals come later. I use a lot of software… Too much. The main ones are: 3DsMax, Maya, Zbrush, CLO Clothing Simulator, & Unreal Engine.
Do you have a mantra?
“Originality is difficult, but more valuable.”
Are there any hidden elements within your work?
Yes a lot. For example; a lot of the metaphors have been deconstructed in my Discord on the different meanings of The Token, but people haven’t really explored the full connection between the repeating character in Metaemotion and The Token, and what it might mean.
Can you tell me about upcoming projects?
Sure! The next project is a full on collaboration with my dev partner 0xG entitled “Balance”.
“The Token” was my first step into Dynamic NFTs, as it’s a piece that changes the visuals and descriptions every 24 hours. I was pretty happy when Pak decided to purchase it off the secondary market and promote it on Twitter.
Balance will be a natural evolution of The Token, exploring what a Dynamic NFT can do when you add interactivity. It’s an Audio/Visual/Dynamic/Scarcity/Gameplay/Interactive series of NFT all rolled into to one experience. 0xG first pitched the foundational mechanics to me and we discussed it at length until we evolved into a much more elegant idea. Hopefully we can get it out in the next few weeks :)
Collector Interview with Lord Truffington
What was your introduction to NFTs?
My introduction to NFTs was through NBA TopShot and NiftyGateway. They are responsible for onboarding a large amount of NFT users because of their capability to accept credit card and FIAT. At the time I did not appreciate the impact, but, now I believe that this will be the future- a part of our lives just like the internet.
I learned more about NFTs after the Christie’s backed Beeple sale. When Sotheby’s announced their collaboration with Pak, I knew that I had to purchase A Cube. Then I began to dig deeper, I came across JC & NFT Siblings (The unofficial Pak Discord). I began to learn more about the artists and the ecosystem.
I bought more Cubes in June and stayed involved because of Pak’s allure. Now, I have a much better understanding of NFTs and have brought at least 50 more people into the ecosystem. I try to show people something that they may not know about. I want to help them discover Pak.
“It is an exercise in faith in an artist”.
We trust Pak because they want to create value for long-term collectors. They “collect” collectors. Pak makes whales.
Faith vs. FUD - do you believe in what Pak is doing?
The Pak ecosystem revolves around $ASH. You have to understand the underlying value of $ASH to understand the value of Pak’s other pieces. Even if the price drops below mint- Pak pieces still have built in scarcity mechanics like the combination of Cubes, burn for $ASH, Pages converted to Poets, Pages fed to Poets (for names & words), and the Merge mechanic. I view Merge and mass.black as a potential boost to $ASH liquidity.
Normal holders do not have the attention span to stay involved in Pak’s ecosystem. So, Pak’s community is one built around faith and long-term holders.
Do you view yourself as a creative or an artist?
I have the creativity of a hamster. I support artists that I like by purchasing their works.
Have you written anything with your Poets?
Yes! I have only fed 6 Pages and have a few left. I named one Lord Truffington and it says, “i love you”. Which, I think is one of the most powerful phrases of the English language. I am going to feed them more Pages as I think that their primary point is to give words to Poets.
Do you believe that Pak’s reference to the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment was in relation to holding Pages?
No. I believe that this is simply a reference to the mindset of a flipper vs. a holder. The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment (on delayed gratification) was proven by tracking down the participants years after. Generally, those who were able to wait longer were more successful.
Do you have a favorite work of art?
When I was a teenager I collected Magic cards. I never really collected art beyond NFTs. Most of the physical art that I have was gifts. I never quite understood the value factors of art before NFTs. Now, it is a lot easier to understand. I mostly collect books- I love books, and organize them by various topics.
My favorite work of literature is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet and Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuvol Noah Harari.
What is Pak’s role in society?
Pak’s role is one of pushing consciousness. Pak is performance art. I was able to experience this in person at NFT/NYC.
The design of the NFT mechanics is the new form of art. Pak’s Merge and creation of Infinite Editions (Open Editions) are great examples of this.
It is why we have faith and why we love Pak.
You are a Moderator in the Pak Discord. Do you get any special privilege or knowledge?
No. Pak mods get no special knowledge. The biggest risk to Pak is a dip in the market, but then that is not a true concern for long-term holders.
How do you want others to view your legacy? What is it that you want to add to the plethora of “human existence”.
I really like my position as a “NFT OG”. I want to bring NFT knowledge and awareness to places like Europe. I want NFTs to be more inclusive. The mission is to raise awareness to NFTs. I was speaking with Pablo at Art Basel and we came to the conclusion that, “Cryptoart is the most immediately graspable concept of NFTs”. This is just the first step. In 10 years time, everything will be on the blockchain and it is important to onboard new users now.
To contribute contact iseult at:
@_seult on Twitter
iseult#8848 on Discord
iseultimpakt@gmail.com
Please consider donating ASH or ETH to: 0x56ec61c5ca992dbe5dba7e942cc4a055bf584f24
All donations will be used to acquire Pak and ASH Creator NFTs for a Virtual Museum.
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