Buying Jewelry that Doesn't Exist
October 05, 22
Would you rather buy a piece of real jewelry or spend the money on a jewelry NFT?
If you don't understand the question because you're not sure what a jewelry NFT is, or if you automatically answer "real", then read on.
If you don't understand the question because you know exactly what a jewelry NFT is, or if you automatically answer "real", then you may want to pop down the road to your local metaverse and grab a non-existent coffee, while we Gen X and Boomers and Silent generations (anything over 39) grapple with reality.
If you're a millennial or a Gen Z (under 39) then maybe paying money for stuff that doesn't actually exist doesn't sound at all weird. But older folk, and that includes me, may still prefer to buy something we can hold in our hand over something we can't.
NFT jewelry is as simple and as complicated as it sounds, all at the same time. People are basically paying money for pictures of earrings or a necklace, for example, to "wear" online. Sometimes that includes an actual piece of jewelry, but very often it doesn't. You're buying a picture of jewelry. As far as I'm concerned it must be about as satisfying as buying a picture of pizza, but there you go.
Last month the Signet jeweler Banter by Piercing Pagoda offered customers the opportunity to pay $40 to have a piece of digital jewelry fitted to a picture they uploaded, so their friends can see them "wearing" it. They're in a collaboration with DressX, already established as a "shop" selling "clothes" that don't actually exist. The jewelry items are described as "digital-only, featuring elements that play outside the world of physics, creating a stylish and unique digital identity". Customers can buy digital fashion accessories for $1.99, or if they want a custom fitted digital look, they can "upload a photo of themselves to have a digital jewelry piece of their choice fitted to their image for $40". Sounds a lot like buying fresh air.
But there's another level to all of this. NFTs. Everybody understands what NFTs are about, right? (For older readers who may have forgotten, non-fungible tokens - NFTs - are digital certificates on the blockchain that assert the owner's right to real world assets or digital files, like pictures or audio). So there's a new but growing market in what they call wearable NFTs. It means that when you buy a piece of digital jewelry, it is certified on the blockchain as being yours, forever. You have an everlasting receipt, that allows you to sell the digital jewelry - remember, it doesn't actually exist - to somebody else. To further complicate matters, there are also "phygital" items, an ugly portmanteau that describes an item, in our case jewelry, that exists both physically and digitally.
One company that's pushing the boundaries with wearable NFTs is Jevels - the "v" is for virtual - which creates pieces of jewelry to be worn at Zoom meetings or on social media. In a bold declaration of its sustainability credentials, the Austria-based startup says: "Virtual fashion does not need any sweatshops, any physical raw materials, any landfills… Still, it can bring equal beauty, self-expression and joy!"
I'm looking at one of the pricier offerings, called Calabi-Yau Manifold, a limited edition of three by a designer called Alejandro Delgado. It costs $495 and the description says: "This piece of exclusive virtual fashion comes in a limited edition and can be worn through an AR filter unlimited times on pictures, in videos, video meetings and other platforms. THIS IS A DIGITAL ITEM AND IT ONLY EXISTS DIGITALLY (their shouty capitals, not mine)." I'm struggling to describe it, so please take a look at the picture (below). It's inspired by, and named after, something from algebraic geometry that involves string theory. There are other items for the more price-conscious customers, earrings for $45, a necklace for $25, Gold Caviar Hoops for $40, and the list goes on.
Pic courtesy Jevels
I feel a little like I've just escaped from Alice in Wonderland. can't actually believe what I've been trying to explain. Two sorts of "can't believe". The first is that even as I re-read what I've just written I still cannot fathom why on earth people are paying good money for stuff that doesn't exist. The second sort of "can't believe" is an entirely opposite sort of "can't believe". I can't believe it, but part of me is convinced that I'm about to proved so wrong, in such a short time, for my ill-informed mockery. And the day will soon come when buying "real" jewelry is akin to renting a VHS video.
In the late 1800s there were dire warnings about the dangers of petrol-driven "horseless carriages" hurtling through the streets at up to 20mph. Critics said they'd never catch on. And when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, he famously predicted there would be one in every major city in the USA. We're not great, as a species, at spotting early-day successes, so there really is every chance that physical silver and gold will all but die out, the niche vestige of a once-proud jewelry world. But buying stuff that doesn't exist? I still don't get it.
Have a fabulous weekend.