World of Women
An Interview with the WoW Founders
Courtesy of World of Women
An Article by Mieke Marple
NFTs. You’ve heard of them, even if you don’t understand them. But have you heard of NFT collectibles—sets of thousands of unique avatars randomly assigned a unique combination of traits by an algorithm? NFT collectibles, otherwise known as “Generative Art,” have become the force to be reckoned with in the NFT community—and, increasingly, in the traditional art world as well. Noah Davis, Christie’s Head of Digital and Online Sales, said that “Generative Art is the first truly great aesthetic movement of the 21st century.” Match that with the fact that this August, Open Sea (the platform where most NFT collectibles are bought and sold) facilitated over $2.49 billion in sales, and it’s hard not to take note.
But who is making and spending all this money? Popular NFT collectibles, such as CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club, appear designed by and for men. Their retro video game and comic-book inspired aesthetics (along with the jargon-y language used by their owners) can be alienating to anyone who doesn’t identify as an NFT bro, inadvertently excluding women and others from the space.
Fortunately, World of Women—an NFT collectible launched this July—is changing that. World of Women, founded by artist Yam Karkai and her partner Raphaël Malavieille, is among the first prominent NFT collectibles designed by a woman, for women. World of Women has set a powerful precedent in the NFT collectible space regarding inclusivity, community building, and philanthropy. It has even inspired me to create my own Medusa-inspired collectible series in collaboration with Steven Van Zandt’s educational non-profit TeachRock—as I’m sure it has inspired countless others to create, buy, sell, and have a voice in this otherwise male-dominated field.
Courtesy of World of Women and Expansion Punks
Mieke Marple: Not all our readers are familiar with NFTs. Can you explain what an NFT collectible is and why they are so popular right now?
World of Women: An NFT is a ‘Non-Fungible Token’. When something has fungibility, it means it is mutually interchangeable, so non-fungible means that it can’t be exchanged for another asset of the same type.
For example, if we use Bitcoin—which is a form of cryptocurrency: one bitcoin can be exchanged for another bitcoin, they are mutually interchangeable and equal to one another. Whereas, you are unable to interchange NFTs because they have a unique digital signature or a token ID.
NFT collectibles are collections of NFTs (several thousand usually) that share similar traits. Some of them are rarer than others which appeal to collectors that want to purchase and trade to get the rarest ones or the most visually appealing ones. It used to be stamps, baseball cards, Pokémon cards; it’s only fitting that as the world transitions to digital those mechanisms reappear on the blockchain.
MM: Can you talk about how the World of Women (WoW) project differs from other collectibles? How does it make the NFT space more inviting to a diverse range of women, and why is that so important?
WoW: World of Women is a collectible project illustrated and led by a female artist. Our objective is making this space move forward into an inclusive and diverse environment. With World of Women we are bringing more representativity and diversity into the NFT space, while at the same time supporting up-and-coming NFT artists with our WoW Art Fund and charitable causes that are changing women and girls’ lives around the globe.
We also want the world to know that there is a place here for women who are passionate about tech and that us, the women that are already here—we want to have a voice in this domain and equal opportunities.
MM: None of the collectibles spoke to me until yours arrived on the scene. WoW seems to be inspired not solely by video games and comics, but by fashion, movies, and graphic design. Y—can you talk about some of your influences as a graphic illustrator? As well as the influences for some WoW traits?
WoW: Oh, well thank you very much! When it comes to my art in general, there's always a character (or several) that represent women empowerment or an aspect that we women go through in our lives. There's also always a fantasy touch to my creations and vivid harmonious color combinations. I'm also definitely inspired by the ’60s and ’70s fashion movements.
When creating WoW, I got very inspired not only by the above but also by elements from my personal life, like necklaces, earrings or clothing that are meaningful to me, or that my mother wore as a young woman, for example. A few attributes are inspired by my favourite movies; others by characters I admire— some are even inspired by a mood I felt while reading certain books!
Courtesy of World of Women and Expansion Punks
MM: Can you talk a bit about the community engagement side of WoW? The different clubs and where you got the idea to do them, as well as the other ways you engage the WoW community via social media, Discord contests, etc.?
WoW: Community is the most important aspect of any collectible project. You’re only as strong as the engagement of the people who believe in you.
We started as a small team, and most of our marketing and sales have been through word of mouth—and still are. This starts with giving your community something to be proud of that they want to talk about and invite people they love to.
As for the clubs and everything we do, really, we always want to find ways to innovate and bring more value to our holders. So it’s about what WoW can provide to its community that our holders could not access on their own. We have access to amazing artists, we have visibility, we have funds, and all those things we want to share with the community.
Social Medias are mostly Twitter and Discord so far for the NFT Space. This is where we are most active (along with Instagram) and where we engage with our community. It’s important in a space that is so saturated with projects to keep bringing news and announcing new projects frequently.
MM: What is the future of WoW? Have you thought about having a WoW conference?
WoW: We would absolutely love to have this kind of "real life" event happen at one point where all the WoW community around the world gets together.
For now though, we are busy with other objectives that we believe are crucial and more important for the project's development.
MM: You two are a couple, which I love. What are the superpowers you each bring to the table? The obvious ones and the nonobvious ones?
WoW: Well, Raph is a to-do list and priority specialist, and you will never find a more talented Excel file maker than him. He is also an excellent project manager and has a decade of experience in doing just that in different fields, including gaming and cloud computing, so his knowledge and talents have been crucial for WoW.
Me, Yam, I'm obsessed with order, purpose, and visuals. In Raph's words " your superpower is your creativity, your vision and your indomitable will to bring women forward.” I am also told I come up with inventive and innovative ideas, which I know exactly how I want to have executed and what their aims and purposes are.
MM: Y—How did doing a project that required being so prolific change your relationship to your own art?
WoW: Making the art for WoW has been like nothing I've done before.
Creating individual elements by categories (like hairstyles, face accessories, clothes, etc.) is a different thought process than creating a single edition detailed art piece.
When I create a 1/1, it's all about that one piece. I think of the story behind it and who are the characters in it, how the environment fits, the details. It is very personal, and I spend days and days on the same “topic." When it comes to collectibles, it's about making all these hundreds of elements I've designed work together as individual pieces in any combination possible, so the storytelling is less individualized and more collectible, like what the project represents as a whole as well as the look of it. It definitely involves a lot of artistic direction.
So it has certainly made me learn how to work under pressure, take color combinations and visual compatibility to a whole new level, and produce much faster on a daily basis.
MM: R—You have a background as a project manager for tech companies in the automotive and cloud spaces. How has doing a project that foregrounds women and art changed you?
WoW: Launching a project requires a similar methodology no matter the space you’re in or the product you are launching. For World of Women, it was extremely interesting as I had to deep dive into the digital art scene on one hand, and the collectibles on the other. I’ve seen Yam’s circle grow on Twitter as she grew as an artist and really enjoyed the process. I feel like there is a positive impact in what we are doing that I had never felt in all the previous companies I’ve been involved with.
Courtesy of World of Women
MM: Now that you have so much influence in the NFT space, have you thought about applying pressures on the powers that be to make crypto/NFTs greener?
WoW: This is a complex and polarizing topic that we’d rather not address without backing up our position with facts, data, and a clear action plan.
When we are ready to do so, we will be happy to discuss the matter further.
MM: How would you feel about WoW being auctioned at Christie’s or Sotheby’s?
WoW: I think that would be absolutely fantastic. Both Christie's and Sotheby's are historical and have a powerful global presence in the contemporary art world.
An auction at either of them would be an incredible achievement for WoW, for our community, and for women in the NFT space. I definitely see it as one of the "career goals" for WoW.
Follow World of Women on Twitter and at worldofwomen.art.