Artists, NFTS & DAO's the roadmap to your digital identity is inside. Pragmatically defining the hybrid model of how the real word will eventually interact with the digital world through sustainable model, we have Simon Mikolajczyk of MaisonDAO spelling out what the future of trendy humans in the metaverse will be.

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MaisonDAO - Simon Mikolajczyk

Participants:

• Nadja Bester (CEO & Co-founder of AdLunam)

• Simon Mikolajczyk( Founder MaisonDAO & XAiDRIP )

00:22

Nadja

Hey, web3 world. This is Nadja Bester from AdLunam, and you are listening to the Future of NFTs, the show that looks beyond current NFT use cases to what non fungible token technology is evolving into all of this as seen through the eyes, and built by the amazing minds of the fascinating guest speakers we speak to each week. AdLunam is building the industry's first web3 investment platform with an Engage to Earn model and a Proof of Attention allocation mechanism. And we deep dive into the world of NFTs because as an investment platform, we are contributing to the Future of NFTs through our dynamic NFT investor profiles that form part of our engage model. So today, I am speaking to sorry, I think you guys can still hear me, right? I'm having a bit of trouble with Twitter. It's showing me that I'm not connected.

01:17

Nadja

Alright, awesome. So today I'm speaking to the founder of MaisonDAO, Simon Mikolajczyk. And Simon is an accomplished entrepreneur with over a decade of expertise in digital marketing, community creation and event management. He began his career co-founding a fashion startup that supported Polish designers in launching their collections and forming communities. He has a robust background in organizing and promoting large scale music events in the lifestyle space, collaborating rather sorry, with high profile artists from various industries and managing sizable teams. And Simon has since pivoted to tech startups. He spent years guiding marketing departments in deep tech firms, as well as community building and fundraising. And at the moment, Simon is focusing on MaisonDAO, and I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing this correctly, xAiDRIP. Maybe there's a way, cooler way to pronounce this. So MaisonDAO is dedicated to creating a digital web3 ecosystem for fashion designers and luxury brands, offering unique tools and virtual spaces for events and exhibitions.

02:34

Nadja

And XAiDRIP is an NFT subscription magazine and digital brand. So very fortunate to be speaking to Simon today because I think there's so many shifts happening in terms of traditional industries moving into the Web3 space and using NFTs in their offerings. And fashion is definitely one of those industries where we have been seeing so many different disruptions, but I think there's a lot of people that really still don't know what's happening because it's still quite a niche market. And at the same time, fashion is something that unites us all. There's very few people in the world that don't have the choice not to wear something every day. So we're looking forward to hearing what Simon is going to be introducing us to in this brave new world of digital fashion. Simon, welcome. Very happy to have you on the show today.

03:30

Simon

Thank you, Nadja. Yes, it's great to be here. And your pronunciation of xAiDRIP, it's exactly the on spot. So don't worry about this during the conversation. I'm very happy to be here, be able to share knowledge, to share insights from the industry and from my story. So thank you very much for inviting me.

03:55

Nadja

Awesome. So I think to kick things off, can you please introduce yourself in terms of what led you to create MaisonDAO and xAiDRIP?

04:09

Simon

Yeah, sure. So, as you mentioned in the first intro, I started in my home country to develop fashion projects and streetwear projects. And I was always thinking to connect this to technology, I was always interested in new technology, artificial intelligence, blockchain, everything that's connected to the startup world. So I really wanted to develop my own project in this area. And when I moved to Berlin, I was working in AI companies. It was six years ago. So a little bit before the huge trend that we see right now with artificial intelligence. And what I recognized, what I've seen, was that these new technologies can really help the fashion industry, the lifestyle industry, the ownership of digital assets would be important at some point. So I dedicated my career and my life to develop these solutions, to develop communities in this area. And that's what MaisonDAO is.

05:17

Simon

It's basically a collective of digital fashion and avatar artists. We are working together on events like, for example, we have a big showcase on the fashion stage during the non-fungible conference in Lisbon in seven days. Exactly. So it will be a very nice show on the cube screen. Yeah, there will be like four screens formed as a cube, and there will be a real catwalk beneath it where we're going to showcase 3D jewelry. So that's the exciting thing that's happening right now. And they are possible thanks to the community that we built with MaisonDAO.

05:57

Nadja

Well, that sounds super exciting for anyone who's going to be in Lisbon in a couple of days. Definitely make sure to check out what MaisonDAO is doing over there if you happen to be attending the conference. And if not, ask yourself, why not? So, Simon, MaisonDAO seems to bridge the gap between traditional finance and the digital world. That obviously is where every industry is moving towards. So why do you think is fashion one of the first industries in which there is such a tremendous interest in going from? I mean, fashion is something that's so incredibly tangible. It's clothes that wear every single day when we go out into the real world. So why do you think this adoption has happened so quickly in terms of the digital world, where there's still so much talk about the metaverse being dead and I mean, never going to happen, or it's going to happen decades into the future.

06:52

Nadja

And yet fashion has really been one of those industries where people are immediately jumping on this trend of, you know what, actually fashion is not just about the real world textiles that you wear, but there is this entire digital world that may or may not take however long to materialize for most people. But we as an industry are going to start moving into it really early. What do you think is the impetus behind this early adoption of the industry?

07:20

Simon

I think there are two ways to explain that. One way would be that because of the gaming industry, a lot of young people are used to buying skins. They are used to buying avatars in different games, winning avatars, creating characters, and this is a big element of fashion and digital identity. So I think one of the reasons that's driving this adoption in this field is exactly the start with normal gaming and that right now is also working with the metaverse and the digital world digital creations. I think this is one thing. And the second thing is that among fashion enthusiasts, the idea of reselling items and collecting items like collecting sneakers for example, right, or collecting Gucci bags or Louis Vuitton bags, it was already existing in the industry, right? So adding the digital component, adding digital ownership to both real world assets and digital assets makes total sense.

08:35

Simon

So people, in short, people want to express their identity in a real world. They do it with fashion, with style, with tattoos, with piercing. And in digital world it will be pretty much the same. People will be creating their avatars, creating avatars, creating looks for the avatars, adding the items. And that's the second thing I wanted to mention that we have right now with non fungible conference, we have NFT Avatar Challenge where people can actually post under our Twitter announcement looks of their avatars and win subscription to our magazine and to our brand and also to be showcased during the conference in Lisbon. So any listeners that have some cool avatars or they create something with ready player me, they are super welcome to join and express their digital identity. And then our jury with some really great experts from digital fashion field will sit together, talk about this and we'll select some amazing looks that will be presented during the show.

09:37

Simon

But I think this is one of the driving influences for adoption of the digital world and fashion industry.

09:46

Nadja

10:53

Nadja

And so for me, the concept of even though I'm not a gamer, but the concept of expressing myself in terms of fashion digitally makes a lot more sense than it does for me to carry around like a whole closet full of clothes as I travel from country to country. So I'm wondering, yes, in the beginning, it might be a specific target audience that is obviously most targeted, but do you envision a future where not only a specific generation, obviously the younger generation, but that more and more people, irrespective of their age group or of their interests, are going to start adopting this world of digital fashion? So two questions in there, who are the people who are currently being targeted by organizations such as yourself? And then in the future, do you think that it's going to scale to many different target audiences?

11:51

Simon

I think it's a great question because the start with gamers is basically because these younger generations that you mentioned, they are super interested in it, they understand it, they actually grew up with this being already a case. So for them it comes natural. Regarding the other groups, I think, firstly, digital collectors, NFT collectors, they are in various ages, right? Various groups. It's a very diverse group of people. And I think this is one of the way to diversify the potential segments that could be interested in it and grow from there. That would be one thing. Secondly, I think that what you mentioned already about the digital identity, that for digital nomads, many people, it could be actually easier to express themselves with a filter on Instagram. That's our idea. Also how to do it not only skins for the metaverse, but also digital filters for Snapchat or Instagram that you can express.

13:05

Simon

You don't have to own the item in the real world, but you can own the digital item and use it for your photos. In this way, you can already have this digital identity created and expressed on social media, which is one of the main ways for people to communicate right now, right through social media platforms. So from this it can definitely grow to other groups as well, thanks to social media promotion and it's being viral. The last point that I wanted to make on this is that if you think about the future, definitely one of the big changes that will come, and it's possible that it will come sooner than later, is the arrival of AR glasses. And with AR glasses, we'll actually be able to see other people as avatars, right? So people could wear normal clothes, but when you look at them with AR glasses, they actually be their digital identity, right?

14:05

Simon

They could be different avatars. They could have some different clothes. So if people really want to think about the future, that will happen. And then if you think about the people that exist right now, everybody has their own style. It's not better or worse. Everybody has their own style and like to express themselves. So in this new future, they will also use some kind of item, they will use some kind of things to represent them. Finally, there are also different events that are happening officially. For example, business conferences or school reunions. And this kind of event in the future, I believe, will also move a little bit to digital world or real world enhanced with digital. And for these manners, I really believe that people, I don't know, 50, 60, 70 years old will also like to have some fun, right? They like to express themselves, too.

15:06

Simon

So they will find ways, and the companies will find ways to find solutions for them.

15:13

Nadja

Well, I can't wait for the time when I can wear the same outfit day after day, but people look at me and see whatever I want them to see. That will make a lot of things a lot easier for me, because I'm very lazy when it comes to fashion. So one thing that always really stands out for me in this conversation about digital fashion is how it might promote environmental friendly practices. Because, as we know, we live in this world where fast fashion is a tremendous problem. I actually saw a news article the other day about in Chile where you can actually see, like, piles of clothes having been dumped from the moon. Actually, sorry, I haven't fact checked this, so please take that with a pinch of salt. But the point being that we live in a world where, especially in an Instagram and social media first world, where people very often will buy an outfit, wear it once in order to post it on social media, and then they simply don't wear it again because obviously the world has already seen them in that outfit.

16:13

Nadja

So do you think that sustainability is going to more and more become a conversation in digital fashion, in the sense that it's much more environmental friendly to change your outfit 70 times a day in the digital world as you say, like Instagram snapchat. So that we would systematically be moving away from this idea that, yes, fast fashion is the way to go.

16:45

Simon

So I'm very happy that we are touching on this subject because it's one of the first things that made me think about new technologies and blockchain. And six years ago, when I started my own research about blockchain technology and tokenization of assets, it was my first use case. It was my sort of first idea that I was thinking about overproduction of items. And I think my example was that I saw an article that Louis Vuitton was actually burning their wallets and purses that were not sold because it's better to burn them than sell them on a lower price on the promotion because then the high esteem of their brand would be diminished. I saw this news and I was like, how is this possible? How is it possible that people are actually burning the stuff that was created? It's not generating any more value. It's very artificial.

17:41

Simon

So I was thinking that if we construct tokenized system where every item, every material is being tracked, and then we see the number of users that are buying this, we can at least minimize the impact of overproduction. We could know, okay, we have 1 million wallets that are interested in this new collection. Maybe we'll create the items more on the scale that is realistic. And thanks to this limit, overproduction, also allowing for people to have more preorder kind of relationship with brands where they actually preorder things much before. And there is no overproduction in the specific collections that are preordered, even on the higher scale of big brands or big fashion or luxury brands. So that was something that I was exploring and that made me think about how we can utilize blockchain technology for sustainability. The other aspect that I think is worth mentioning is the subscription model.

18:50

Simon

This new project that I'm doing, xAiDRIP, is exactly a subscription model where we're going to generate, firstly, digital assets based on the number of users that are subscribing. So it is limiting overproduction of digital assets, which we know also is affecting the climate. Right? It's the digital world because of electricity and all the other things that are affecting the climate. So we can limit this with this, but in the future, we also want to develop real world collections that are connected to NFTs. And this subscription preorder model would be actually utilized to make it more sustainable. With this project, we really want to become a sustainable digital fashion brand and ultimately a whole fashion brand as well.

19:42

Nadja

Yeah. Awesome. That is so absolutely fantastic because I think so many people in the digital and especially the web3 space, even with the opportunities that we have to do things different to think with a more sustainable mindset, we very often come at the same problems with the same mentality of what's right in front of us and what the opportunities are. But not really thinking about which problems that we currently face in the real world can also be solved in terms of sustainability and environmental friendly practices. So I'm curious. With MaisonDAO, you are creating a very unique space for independent designers and brands to do things a little different in terms of the percentage split. How many designers that you work with were previously in the design space, in the fashion design space? And how many of them because now there's a new canvas, so to speak, how many of them are coming into this fashion design industry for the first time because of the technological capabilities that these tools offer?

20:49

Simon

Okay, I think it's worth to say right now that the new situation happens. It's being realized right now with AI. Because previously still, to design digital fashion, you would either need a fashion experience from the real world, because applications like Flow 3D, marvelous designer and others, they work in a similar way as real world fashion. You still need to create patterns. You have to know how to sew them in together, even digitally, but you have to know which part is connected to which part to create the item. So you either needed a fashion experience to be able to create these items, or you had to have digital art background, 3D art, where some of these things are already so much easier to you because you designed them in different software that is dedicated to creating 3D patterns and 3D objects. So I think during this time that we are doing MaisonDAO is one year and a half right now, most of the designers were actually coming from the 3D art or fashion industry, and they were changing their careers into the digital fashion and avatar field.

22:18

Simon

We also have a great example, right? One of my partners in the xAiDRIP and one of the core members of MaisonDAO is actually Jacques Dequeker. He's a real world photographer from Brazil with more than 100 covers for Vogue magazine, Harper's Bazaar, L Magazine, so for fashion magazines. But last year, he decided to create a studio where he's creating avatars and fashion and photo shoots digitally. And that's something he's having great contracts, great work is being done. He created some amazing digital influencers for brands in Brazil. He created a digital cover with one of the biggest celebrities in Brazil for L magazine. To answer your question, we definitely see that most people making moves and making big moves are actually people who had previous backgrounds in the field of fashion or photography or art. But I think it's worth to say that with the advent of AI,

23:27

Simon

Fashion people could actually right now create with prompts, with Midjourney or DALL-E. They could actually create right now, amazing pieces. So great looking pieces. Obviously, it's not fully created by them. I sometimes say it's more like poetry, right? You have to write a right prompt to get the results that you want to achieve. And with this, we see people who are first into the fashion world, but they have this ability to write prompts, to write it in a way that it's developing great items, great collections that people enjoy. So I think this is the answer to the question that with AI, it's actually possible for almost anyone to become more or less a designer because you don't need that much of technical prowess like before to develop the items themselves.

24:22

Nadja

Yeah, I think for me, this whole proliferation that we are currently seeing with AI, there's so much conversation around whether it's removing human creativity. But what I'm seeing is that so many people that previously had not the technical expertise in terms of art and various art forms are suddenly, because of the advancement of AI, they are suddenly able to express themselves in a way that previously was simply not possible. Or even they didn't know that they had a creative bone in them. But because they are using AI as a partner, so to speak, they are able to move into a space that previously was very closed off to them. So, I'm curious, I think you've already touched on this in so many words, but do you think that NFTs and digital fashion can help democratize the fashion industry?

25:18

Simon

I see, yeah, definitely. I see that new technologies and this new movement, community based project like MaisonDAO, which is a collective right, which is a community of artists, it can definitely help to democratize access because these people that we have right now, they are speaking on conferences, right? They are having podcasts, they are being invited to different shows to share the knowledge about what we are doing. And thanks to this, we actually can educate and show the ways for these new generations of artists that will come after us. So I think that's a very interesting aspect, that democratization of access to. It will also work through the educational part. Right. We have to do our job to share the knowledge. Like, for example, I'm speaking today because I really believe that's one of the main points that we really have to cover, to share the knowledge, to speak about our experiences, share the insights with the people.

26:25

Simon

And thanks to this, people can get to know how to get involved with all of this if they are excited about this, how to connect to the right groups, to right communities, who to ask for help. So that's why we are here, to really democratize the access. And I think you mentioned also that with MaisonDAO, we are focused on independent artists. It's actually true. We have some collaborations right now with IPs and brands that will come later this year. One of the biggest football clubs is interested in the collection with us. So that's something that we're going to do. Owners of big IPS, from Hollywood, from film industry, they want to create digital passion. So that's one of the ways that we could help these upcoming designers to be seen on the higher scale. Right. Which is actually a very important part of the process.

27:24

Nadja

Yeah. Wonderful to hear how much traction you are gaining. That's incredible. So in terms of the opportunities and in terms of the growth that you're experiencing, what are some of the challenges that you face so far in bringing this vision to life and how are you overcoming them?

27:42

Simon

29:05

Nadja

Yeah, I mean I think until the time that people start thinking of these technologies as technologies rather than a subset of the crypto market, we are just going to continue to have to ride the highs and the lows along with the crypto market. I'm also curious in terms of traditional designers and brands, what response have you received from them? I know that you've said that you have a lot of things in the pipeline but I'm curious how have these traditional designers and brands been receptive to this new concept of fashion in the metaverse and fashion in terms of link to NFTs? What challenges have there been in terms of them getting to this point where they accept this as the future? Has it been as easy as you anticipated it would be or maybe more difficult than you thought it would be? Because obviously it's a huge mindset shift.

30:02

Nadja

A, but then second, as you mentioned because it's still so linked to the idea of crypto, a lot of people I imagine would still be hesitant to kind of pivot their brands or at least enhance their brands because they don't want to be associated with the negative aspects of the industry.

30:23

Simon

So I think obviously they are hesitant. It's not that every brand jumped on this right now, but from the luxury world you see one of the two of the biggest brands, Nike and Adidas that formed their own strategy how to work with this field. Firstly, the Nike they went into the way to buy one of the leading digital fashion brands, Artifact and the artifact is already part of their core brands and they are developing a lot of NFT based solutions. Air Force, I think models of Air Force sneakers that are both real world and digital augmented with new technologies. So this is one of the ways that one of the biggest brands, Nike, actually decided to grow into this industry. And then you have Adidas, which worked more in the collaboration way with Jimani, with some collectors, with designers to create experiences together, to release some collections, to release membership passes for Adidas future metaverse events and actions and collections.

31:54

Simon

And also, there was like a mintable digital asset. So you could buy the digital and then receive in the future the reward hoodie. So these are one of the tactics of the sports brands, like casual brands and then big luxury brands, they have the budgets to develop these campaigns. And brands like Burberry, Gucci entered the market sometimes before. And I think this year, with these new things that Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger released digital assets contest with designers, I think there are obstacles to it, because some of these brands maybe don't understand the innovation and the need for it. But because of them having the budget, they can actually risk it and be able to develop solutions for them. Right, by collaborating with other brands or like Nike, by buying out the top brands.

33:07

Nadja

Yeah, I mean, I think this is a general trend that we are seeing in Web3 that the big brands with the big budgets, they have the capacity to test drive and to see dip a toe in the waters and, okay, if it doesn't work. And they're able to fail. Because even if they do fail, it's still a learning curve. It's still a learning experience that they are able to do. Whereas smaller brands, obviously, with any technological innovation, it takes time, because we all learn from these big brands. We learn from the mistakes. It's almost like receiving sort of by proxy training, okay, this is how they are doing it. This is how they are not doing it. So I see a lot of that happening in many different industries that are starting to incorporate web3. So I'm curious, in terms of NFTs, how do NFTs play a role in this digital fashion world and specifically in MaisonDAO?

34:04

Simon

So, I think the crucial role that NFT plays in this industry is about the ownership of items, our artists, because MaisonDAO is a decentralized brand. And how we see it is that actually, every project, every brand, they're developing their own collections, they're releasing on various platforms, and they’re releasing the items for different metaverse platforms. And that's how we think about it. Our role in MaisonDAO is to facilitate their connection, the connection to others by organizing events where they can showcase their work like this, even in Lisbon next week, so they can get access to the collectors, they can get access to the investors and get access to other projects. And secondly, the other aspect of the NFT in the fashion world is definitely the one that I mentioned, which is the membership model, getting memberships through possessing of NFTs and getting access to special benefits based on the NFT that you possess.

35:19

Simon

It's like basis of this xAiDRIP project, which is one of the brands, new brands in MaisonDAO. So I think the connection between NFTs and this passion is strong. Sometimes people are asking the question which is like, but why would I pay for digital assets? Why would I pay for NFTs? But if you look at the story of gaming and even Facebook, people were spending hundreds of dollars on Farmville and they were not asking this question. Right. I don't think it's something that people will need a long time to get used to. I think in the next five years, people will get used to the idea that the digital possession is as real as the real world. Possession of things. If you can sell it, if you can trade it, that's basically the ownership.

36:16

Nadja

So, if we think of the world of fashion as it has been since, well, time immemorial, and obviously in the, let's say last, I don't know, 100 to 150 years, it's really coming to its own as this concept of design away and the ability to express yourself as a unique individual. We know this in the real world. But now with the addition of digital fashion and NFTs and all of these new technologies, and especially I wanted to also add what you mentioned earlier about virtual influencers. How do you see the future of fashion in general? What do you think it's going to look like in a couple of years for the average person?

37:05

Simon

Yeah, I think the aspect of virtual influencers, it's an interesting one, right? Because if we see the projects that exist right now in the digital world, where people and brands are utilizing this kind of influencers, I saw very big success in doing this because working with reward people, which is obviously great, and the reward people, they can also create their digital copies and it could also be used in this way. But using this digital, it also gives more creative potential, right? More creative adaptability, more changes that you can implement on different campaigns. So I think it's a very engaging part of our work. And Jacques Dequeker, he built this influencer. Arya Phoenix, she is right now at around 50K followers on Instagram and her video was on the Times Square in New York, dancing, for example, and she's being part of different campaigns for brands in Brazil.

38:22

Simon

So definitely it's working and people are open to this kind of experiment. And I think that will be one of this potential future of fashion being realized, that people want to interact with digital avatars, right, and because of these new technologies, like artificial intelligence implemented well, they will be able to actually talk to these digital influencers, right? They will be able to have conversations about style, have conversation about, I don't know, trends and I think that will be very exciting. It will be like a big world game that have mix of real world elements and digital elements. It's like a hybrid reality and people experiencing this through virtual reality, through headsets. We don't believe that this is the one and only way that people will be using this because it will be difficult for people. And we also really don't want this Matrix like future when people are connected to the Matrix 8 hours or 10 hours per day laying at their home on the couch.

39:33

Simon

This is not the future that we believe in. We more believe in this AR technology, augmented reality, where people can have glasses but go actually outside, see digital things together. For example, see the digital elements during the events of any kind. They could be entertained together on a concert with AR effects flowing around them. I think this is the big element of fashion that we see because people will express their digital identity in a completely new way, much more approachable and it will be actually seen as a real world thing because of this hybrid approach.

40:24

Nadja

Simon, I just want to express my gratitude for your balanced approach because I think very often people go all into something and it's almost as if because of what they are working with, the real world can go to sleep because everything has to be online and everything has to be virtual. So I really appreciate your views that there is still a real world out there and this is an addition. It's not going to be a replacement, because I think that's a thing that scares a lot of people that are not working with these technologies is it seems to them like everything is moving into the digital world, where ultimately, we will always have this hybrid model of having one foot in the real world and one foot in the digital one. Well, unless we get to a stage like a ready player one or something, but let's hope it never gets there.

41:09

Nadja

So, in terms of events, we've been hearing more and more about metaverse events, after parties, et cetera, and I know that you guys have had quite a number of different events where you are obviously in the space as well. So can you walk us through what a typical event would look like for those people in the audience who might not have attended an event like this and what makes them different, what sets them apart from more traditional events?

41:42

Simon

Yes, I think definitely we have experience in running different metaverse events together. Also with Kadine James from Immersive KIND, one of our core members, we have our own collaborative gallery space that we use to organize digital fashion shows after parties. We had the screening of the video about sustainability with collaboration with Greenpeace.

42:15

Nadja

43:19

Simon

So that's why we were able to realize the after parties as well. Because of this dancing element. There are some coded moves that you can use and connect them together, creating some special and really interesting dances. So people can interact with each other, they can talk to each other. There is a chat right now as well, and special. So yeah, people can really be entertained. And we actually were getting very good reviews after launching this event last year in the same way. For example, I also realized like a different kind of thing in the gallery because television from Singapore, they wanted to make the interview with me. And we actually realized the interview inside the gallery, walking around, seeing a digital art and digital fashion from our designers. So it was also like very engaging and interesting experience. It's actually online on YouTube as well. But yeah, it works pretty well.

44:21

Simon

So I'm super positive about the ability to have the online, like totally online metaverse events. It's totally doable and people love it.

44:33

Nadja

Yeah. I think for my team that are currently in the audience, they know that whenever we at AdLunam are in special because we hold some of our team events there. I'm always the one that needs help from everyone just in terms of how to sit down and how to move my avatar. So definitely there should be some training for people like me. I always say that even though I work in technology, I'm probably the person who never can figure out how it works. So can you explain when MaisonDAO collaborates with artists and brands, what does this creative process look like for you and how you work with them?

45:12

Simon

For now, I would say that it's still a little bit of manual work that needs to be done, right? People need to talk to each other, have meetings. It's not that much different from launching any other project. On the way forward, I believe that we will utilize more technologies to be able to automate the processes using artificial intelligence as well to divide the tasks between team members and to reward team members for their work on the project right, based on the contribution that they have. So yes, that will be my answer that for now, it's still pretty manual process but we are looking for the ways to automate these processes and make them less how to phrase it well, that it will demand less real world project management right. And less real world meetings to create things faster and to develop things faster.

46:28

Nadja

So I'm also curious, I know in terms of Edge City, the work that you've done there, can you tell us a little bit more about what this entails?

46:38

Simon

So basically Edge City is a multi metaverse, IP multiverse city. So basically HCD is the world that our digital creations are sort of living in. So the designers that are in MaisonDAO, the idea is sort of that their collection are placed in this virtual world and our art galleries for example, or like the xAiDRIP brand are actually a brand in this imaginative Edge City world. And we have some sort of infrastructure, we have some sort of architecture that will be launched into different metaverses this year where we're going to have our HCD Mezzantal headquarters, right, and people will be able to see art from our designers, talk to them, meet them to organize events there. So that's the process that we have right now for HCD. At the beginning were thinking to build our own infrastructure, but we are not in this kind of field.

47:50

Simon

Definitely we decided to be on a more collaborative approach and find partners from a different metaverse platforms that would like to have HCD in their world. And thanks to this, we can maximize the number of people that can actually interact with what we are building.

48:10

Nadja

And I think always the beauty of the space is its collaborative nature because why reinvent the wheel or build a new wheel when you can just collaborate with someone who specializes in building that wheel? And there's such an open atmosphere in this industry, the web3 industry, that it's so easy to just collab with others who specialize in things and leverage what they've built rather than try to build everything yourself. So we haven't spoken too much about xAiDRIP and what the mission and the vision is there. So can you walk us through some more of really the vision behind it and where you are going with this?

48:46

Simon

Sure, of course. So regarding the xAiDRIP, the idea is to create a platform in an NFT subscription model where people can subscribe to different collections. We are starting with xAiDRIP collection itself which will have a companion like accompanying magazine where we're going to talk about the artists that are in our community. We'll talk about trends, we'll showcase editorials from our core team. So it will be like a fashion magazine aid driven fashion magazine. That's why the name is xAiDRIP, because everything we do with this project is connected to utilizing AI to create things better, faster, more adaptable in a more personalized way. And this subscription will contain digital art and fashion and other NFTs that as I call it during the brand strategy sessions that were having last month. I call it like lifestyle NFTs. So it will be connected to Metaverse, for example, a pattern that people can use to decorate their Metaverse building or AR space or their digital gallery.

50:09

Simon

Maybe it will be like a furniture that they can use, some statues that they can use inside their real world room, right? And project this through augmented reality. Inside their location, there will be AI generated music that they can use in their project. So there will be like different things that people, artists and collectors alike can actually use in their Metaverse digital world. That's why it's drip. And the core context here is also sustainability. I really believe that through building this kind of subscription service, we can stay more sustainable and develop the collections that are personalized for the users in a preorder way. We have some brands that are doing Fidgety collections. So you are buying an NFT and you are getting the real world one or the other way around. We are also one of core members of MaisonDAO Petlana from Honey. She is in the public right now.

51:15

Simon

She's right now working on a project where they print digital. Not they print digital, they print jewelry, right? But to get this jewelry, you actually have to buy the NFT that symbolize the ownership and the digital version of it. And then in the preorder, you are getting the real world one. So we really think that xAiDRIP could be one of the solutions where people think about sustainability. They think how to be more effective in their approach to climate, to change the ways how we treat digital possession as well. And that's one of our main habit is to showcase that digital possession is actually as important as the real world one. And maybe even in the future, the digital possession will be meaning more. Exactly. You would be this perfect customer, Nadja, as you mentioned, right, if you could wear similar items every day in your life, but through digital, express your identity in various forms, right.

52:24

Simon

You could have hundreds of items and use them for different occasions. That would work for you. And that's one of the things we believe in xAiDRIP, that people will need these digital items of different kind to express their digital identity to the fullest extent.

52:41

Nadja

Yeah, definitely a very exciting time to be alive and looking forward to seeing what the future holds, especially for my wardrobe. So I'm going to ask you a final question, and in the meantime, invite the audience. If you have any question for Simon, then please just DM them to the AdLunam Twitter handle that you see in the space and then I will select as many as we have time for before we close. So Simon, I'm working at the moment on a Netflix documentary about the future of the Internet and one of the two most prominent technologies, of course, are Web3 and AI. And it really sounds from what you've been saying that I think you share a similar vision in the sense that there is going to come a time when we are not really going to differentiate, okay, this is Web3, this is AI.

53:28

Nadja

It's all just going to be the technologies that we have in our toolbox. So how do you think in terms of this development? How long is it going to take before we stop siloing? Okay, this is AI and this is web3. And really just think of these technologies as this is what we now have available to us as a global society.

53:51

Simon

Sure. I think it's a big point that also when I'm thinking about my career, it's not like I'm a specialist in AI or specialist in Web3 or specialist in metaverse itself, but I rather say in new technologies because it's like umbrella term that I use for all of these things together. Because these things are interconnected, they depend on each other and they are working in sort of like a group thing. For the great metaverse, you will need a lot of AI to make it more personalized. For metaverse to work, you will need digital fashion. For the digital fashion to work, you will need digital ownership, which is provided by Web3 and blockchain inside of it. So all of these things are definitely connected and they wouldn't work as well outside of them as only one thing. If it's only AI, not connected to any other of these things, only about data processing, of course it's great, and for industry it's amazing, but it wouldn't change that much the situation.

54:58

Simon

But if we connect AI to all of these things that we built, that could actually change. I honestly believe that this can change lives of the people and make it easier. They could have access to more personalized experiences, not only more personalized, but more approachable experiences. Right. So I think this is the core font that I would like people to leave this conversation with, right. That all these things are connected together and for us is to develop solutions, develop projects, develop communities that are working to connect all of these things together to create ecosystem that works for all.

55:46

Nadja

Perfect. Simon thank you so much. I'm quickly scanning through the questions. The first one, how can an artist get involved with MaisonDAO? What's the process like?

55:57

Simon

Sure. So basically we have a domain, maisondao.world and the email metaverse@maisondaoworld. The person who is interested can always shoot us an email, send some portfolio. We can have some talks about it because as for now, it's to join the core community that we are building. Right. There's around 50, 60 digital fashion studios that are the main artists in the community. We were doing this process more manually, right. So it's still opportunity for people with some experience to join to the core team of the DAO. But in the same time, if it's rising artists, we are super happy to see the portfolio, right, to have a call 30 minutes about some plans, see maybe there is a match for some project right away. And that basically happened to me. Two weeks ago or three weeks, there was an artist that got interested.

56:59

Simon

She wrote me on LinkedIn, right? She was like, oh, I love the MaisonDAO. I love xAiDRIP. How can I get involved? And actually, we are releasing two Instagram filters for NFT conference together for next week. So definitely if you are an artist and you want to join and develop something with MaisonDAO or be a part of our events, just contact us. I'm also available here on Twitter, obviously, under this xAiDRIP profile. I invite everyone to follow this because we will share all our information about upcoming releases and events there. So, yeah, that would be answer.

57:39

Nadja

Well, this leads me to my next question, which is really interesting, and I'm also curious to hear what your answer is. I'm interested in fashion. Should I go into digital fashion or into traditional fashion and then into digital fashion? So what are your thoughts on this?

57:55

Simon

Wow.

57:56

Nadja

Yeah.

57:57

Simon

It is a good question. What to start with, right? Like chicken and egg question. Should you still start with the real word fashion and then change into it? I think if your interest really in fashion, maybe it's worth to think about it in this digital aspect. So not only think about, okay, I need to do a real world thing separately from digital or digital things separately from real world. Maybe think about and we have some experience with this, about launching a brand that is hybrid, right. That really is connecting the pieces between the real world and digital world. That will be my answer.

58:40

Nadja

Well, folks, there you have it. That's all the time we have for today. But Simon, I would like to ask you, if you want the audience to walk away with only one concept, one idea, what would that be?

58:59

Simon

I would say that the main concept, main idea that I'm always telling the people is about collaboration and education. So if you have experience in any field of this, join community and share the knowledge with others. Take part in podcasts and Twitter spaces and talk about what you're doing. That will definitely help everyone to develop the industry on an even better level and collaboration, because this is the main way to go forward. Only by collaborating between each other, we can build bigger, amazing things for our communities.

59:42

Nadja

Could not have said it better myself. That is always the spirit of this industry that keeps us going and really of all industries as we go into the future. Simon thank you so much for sharing your time and your many amazing insights with us today. We will definitely be following closely, and if you didn't catch the beginning of our conversation today, there is a conference happening in Lisbon next week. So if you are anywhere close to Lisbon or to Portugal, please make sure to at least make an attempt to make it there because I think Simon and MaisonDAO are going to be doing some incredible things over at the conference, as in all the other projects that they are involved with. As for the audience, thank you so much for tuning in today. It's always an honor to have you share your time and attention with us here at AdLunam, and I will catch you again next week for another episode of The Future of NFTs, brought to you by AdLunam.

Nadja

Cheers, guys. Simon thank you so much. Wonderful to speak to you. Look forward to following along and seeing how the world of digital fashion evolves and really just the future in general.

Simon

Thank you very much. It was amazing to be here. Thanks to all the people that attended our space today. It was a great experience. If you have any more questions, please write me a DM here on Twitter. We can get connected on LinkedIn or any other platform. I'm super happy to share experiences also one on one, so don't be shy and please contact me. Thank you very much.

Nadja

Thank you. Simon have a lovely day, everyone. See you next week. Cheers.

Simon

Bye bye. Cheers. Take care.