BRAND
Meet the Visionaries
Who Are Leveling Up
the Metaverse
Go behind the scenes with the creators and founders building the future of web3 and NFT art.
Sometimes it’s good to put a face to a crypto wallet. After a long hiatus spent hanging out only as avatars, the web3 community gathered IRL at Samsung 837/NEXT during NFT.NYC week to discuss the blockchain, see beautiful art and dust off their social skills. We brought speakers and technology innovators from every corner of the metaverse to 837 Washington Street, our flagship space in the heart of New York’s Meatpacking District. Meeting for the first time ever, this diverse group of NFT artists, CEOs and visionaries showed us how they’re shaping the future with the metaverse. Here’s what we learned.
Artist So Youn Lee with the NFT multiverse mosaic featuring avatars created by Samsung fans
From metaverse to multiverse
To kick off the conversation, we took a dive into Samsung’s original metaverse adventure, which made waves in the web3 community: 837X in Decentraland. Mythical dragons. Winged wearables. Digital dance parties. The minds behind the project discussed how they used the more sustainable Polygon blockchain to bring the Samsung 837 experience to the wider world—and what comes next. “No matter where you are, you can experience the wonder of this brand.” said Michelle Crossan-Matos, CMO of Samsung Electronics America. “Together, we are embarking on the next frontier of innovation.”
Samsung is expanding our metaverse into a multiverse that builds community across platforms—from live performances and virtual Galaxy Z Flip3 phones in Roblox’s Samsung Superstar Galaxy featuring Charli XCX, to launching our own Discord server. For 837/NEXT, we raised the bar with a collaborative art experience in partnership with Nouns, an open-source generative art project. Visitors to 837X , Discord and 837 IRL could customize their own Noun avatar, then add it to a massive mixed-reality art piece by rising Korean artist So Youn Lee. In the end, over 40,000 Nouns added up to create a beautiful NFT multiverse mosaic representing our community. But adventures like this are just the beginning. Samsung brought together the next generation of creators and founders to give us a glimpse into a more connected and customisable future.
The Fabricant Co-Founders Adriana Hoppenbrouwer and Amber Jae Slooten on the “Innovation Without Boundaries” podcast recorded at Samsung 837
Expressing your digital self with The Fabricant
The Fabricant (@thefabricant) is a digital fashion house that’s been making the metaverse more stylish. Besides designing for haute couture brands, they provide a co-creation platform where anyone can make their own NFT clothing and even trade it in the marketplace. Founders Adriana Hoppenbrouwer and Amber Jae Slooten see their business in virtual clothing becoming more relevant as people seek to stand out in the metaverse. “It's important that when you connect in this virtual space that you feel like yourself,” Hoppenbrouwer said backstage after her 837/NEXT panel. “When I go into a metaverse, and I don't find the wearables that fit me, I don't feel like myself. And that's a big issue.”
Feeling like yourself could mean wearing boots made of dragon scales or giant flaming wings. If you can dream it, you can wear it with the help of The Fabricant. Their creative tools are making self-expression second nature in the metaverse. “Now you're able to create anything that you would want to be,” Slooten said when asked how NFTs allow people to present themselves in ways they can't in real life. “In these virtual spaces, you can develop your identity, change, experiment and then feel more confident going into physical reality again. And that is really healing as a human being.”
Avatar creation with Ready Player Me
Customising virtual identity with Ready Player Me
Life in the metaverse isn't all fun and NFT games. Unless, of course, you’re Kaspar Tiri and Timmu Tõke, founders of Ready Player Me, a cross-game avatar platform.¹ No more default avatar settings when you start a new game, or tediously tweaking sliders to get that nose just right. Ready Player Me lets players upload a selfie or create their character once, then start inhabiting the virtual world with their own continuous identity. “The moment you're born, you start customising,” Tõke said.
Ready Player Me Co-Founder Timmu Tõke and Spatial Co-Founder Jinha Lee speaking at their 837/NEXT panel
“There are endless opportunities for people to be exactly what they want to be. There are no limits.”
- Kaspar Tiri, Co-Founder of Ready Player Me
Customising one's digital identity is essential as more and more people interact in the metaverse. “To have major brands like Samsung getting into this space shows the maturity of the industry,” said Kaspar Tiri. “It shows all we've been building to push the future forward.” Ready Player Me’s technology pushes the future forward by letting users be their true virtual selves—plus a bit more. “There are endless opportunities for people to be exactly what they want to be,” said Tiri. “There are no limits.”
Generative NFT art from Women Rise
Embracing inclusivity with Women Rise
Women Rise is an NFT collection with a mission to make the metaverse a more inclusive place. Created by visual artist Maliha Abidi, these 10,000 generative art NFTs showcase the incredible diversity and power of women through striking portraiture—while contributing to real-world causes like girls’ education. Each portrait was randomly generated from a set of hand-drawn features to create an entirely unique artwork, using web3 blockchain technology to breathe new life into traditional media.
When first getting into the NFT scene and attending NFT events, Abidi felt a distinct lack of representation. “I never felt this was the space for me. It was just one category of people that I could see.” Still, she saw the beauty and potential of the medium. So, inspired by her experiences and empowered by new tech, she launched the collection to much acclaim.
At 837/NEXT, audiences got to experience Women Rise in a new way, not just on their phone or computer screen. These incredible images came to life on a three-story screen and in the NFT art gallery featuring Samsung’s latest TV made for displaying digital art: The Frame TV.² Bold, beautiful and powered by the blockchain, Abidi’s work shows us what inclusivity looks like in the metaverse.
NFT artist Krista Kim discussing the new creative economy on Samsung's "Innovation Without Boundaries" podcast
Empowering artists with Krista Kim and Spatial
The blockchain is creating a new creative economy—one that eliminates the need for intermediaries while empowering creators. With this, artists that have traditionally been left out of the conversation are finding their voices and forming genuine communities around their work. Krista Kim, founder of the “Techism” movement and creator of the first digital house sold as an NFT, has seen this evolution firsthand. According to Kim, “You don't have to be a millionaire. All you need is ingenuity, drive and a plan.”
“You don't have to be a millionaire. All you need is ingenuity, drive, and a plan.”
- Krista Kim, Digital Artist
As a metaverse pioneer, Kim forged new ways to blend technology and art, using platforms like Spatial.io to create her famous Mars House. At 837/NEXT, Spatial and Kim reconnected to present new world-building tools that make web3 creation and NFTs accessible to anyone with an interest. Now, freed from the constraints of the traditional art world, artists are empowered to be their authentic selves. “The power of art, whether you’re experiencing or creating it, is always about radical authenticity,” Kim said. “Social media and web2 have been about passively consuming content, but now in web3 we are actively cocreating. It truly is an empowering experience.”
- ¹ Availability of partner apps and games may differ by region. See full list of partner apps and games at https://readyplayer.me/apps
- ² To view purchased NFTs, a Nifty Gateway TV account and data connection are required.
Ready to enter the metaverse?
Level up your web3 experience with these innovations from Samsung — just add your imagination.
Galaxy S24 FE
Galaxy S24 Ultra
Galaxy S24 | S24+
Galaxy Z Flip5
Galaxy Tab S9 Series
Read these stories next
