Martha Stewart gets into NFT game with Halloween collection
19:26, 19 October 2021
Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart launched a non-fungible token (NFT) collection – dubbed FRESH Mint Collections – Tuesday over her website, the celebrity businesswoman and entrepreneur announced.
“A new and exciting venture!” Stewart tweeted. “I am creating NFTs and I’m delighted to share with you some little (and some well-known) pieces from my world. ”The inaugural collection, Carved Collections, consists of 12 separate Halloween-themed digital artworks."
Opening bids for individual NFTs in the 12-piece collection began at $66 and as of Noon EDT Tuesday were bid as high as $7,631.02, a $2,552.75 average. Bidding ends at midnight on 31 October. Bids in cryptocurrencies and fiat currency are accepted.
Collection available over OpenSea
The collection is also available over NFT platform OpenSea. Tokens Commerce is handling the auction logistics. The images were created primarily by New York-based pumpkin artists Marc Evan and Chris Soria, founders of NYC-based Manic Pumpkin Carvers, in collaboration with Stewart. Additional images of note include a Roy Lichtenstein-inspired pop art image and a shock-art Naughty Nurse image.
Other well-known digital artists, namely Bored Apes and CryptoPunks, may collaborate on future collections.
“I see NFTs as a new canvas for creativity and Blockchain as a vehicle to protect artists' IP and support their incredible work,” said Stewart in a release. "By collaborating with Tokens, we reached an approach that feels authentic and aligned with my vision."
NFT economy has grown
"While the NFT economy has grown rapidly, it is still driven by a relatively small group of early crypto adopters," said Neil Fiske, CEO of Stewart’s brand manager Marquee Brands.
A recent report from blockchain analytics firm DappRadar, titled The Dapp Industry Report. estimated NFT trading volume topped $10.7bn in the 3Q 2021, with roughly $5.2bn of that activity in August. The quarterly trading volume in NFTs represented a 704% increase over 2Q 2021 and a 38,060% increase from 3Q 2020.
Read more: NFT interest reached new high in August