Prepared by Ian Manson, 27th May 2022
Anna, thank you for taking the time to join me in this interview to educate our community on NF Architects and your relationship with pax.world. But first can you give us a brief introduction to you and your story?
Thanks for having me on this interview. My background is quickly explained. I am a criminal defense lawyer with a small law firm in the town of Zurich, growing from Money Laundering into Art, which led to an Executive Master in Art Sales Management. This is where I first learned about NFTs, the metaverse and how these interact with the art scene. Architecture was then just a natural next step when asking where are we going to view all this amazing art in the metaverse.
Why did you get involved in the NFT arena, and where do you think the crypto industry will be in 5–10 years?
As I mentioned the classes I took opened my views and improved my knowledge on NFTs. NFTs combine the worlds I know best, law and art. The perception that NFTs are fast money and nothing else is simply wrong. I wanted people to understand that NFTs guarantee ownership, they are a very simple version of proof for a legally binding transaction, simplify the art market massively and making it achievable to everyone, which is a great advantage. It’s no longer about art being a high-end market for people who don’t know where to put their money. It is about the real perception of art, that can touch anyone and now can become achievable to a larger mass.
Thank you for your insight. Can you give us an introduction to NF Architects. and its history?
Marc Wieneke, my co-founder, who is an amazing architect in real life, showed me some of his plans and projects that had never been realized. They were incredible, the shapes where out of this world and some of the renderings were simply breath-taking. I learned that many great architects had such unfinished or unrealized projects and that these were condemned to a black box. So, our first business idea was to create NFTs of these works and try to sell the original 3D models and plot plans within the smart contract. We first launched on New Year’s Eve this year and had one great success to start with. Going on we found that many players in the metaverse, whether from art or luxury industries or consulting companies asking for tailor-made architecture which is now our main focus. We create architecture that is no longer bound by the circumstances of real life such as gravity, climate and geography, and give our clients the max experience according to their specific needs.
So how did you get started with NF Architects?
I mentioned my idea with the NFTs for architecture to a befriended investor and he was very interested in funding the company. With this start capital we were able to do our first NFT project and launch it. It was sold for a very good price. In our business model 80% of the revenue goes to the architect, so we absolutely need turnover to reach breakeven. However, tailormade architecture is taking over at this stage and will be probably closer to a real-life architectural studio. NFTs however remain mandatory to us. We protect ownership and IPR when a project is minted and this incredible advantage of NFTs will bring the business world in general to a more efficient functioning.
What is so special about your relationship with pax.world?
As architects we do need a land to build on and in virtuality this is the metaverse. We spoke to several providers and creators of metaverses in the large sense of the word. pax.world definitely stood out through the idea of having two levels of metaverse, the regular one where everyone can cruise by using very simple devices such as smartphones and personal computers, and the so called metanovae where quality of rendering, applications and uses are high-end and satisfy the needs of our clients. If you do architecture in a very simple way, you end up creating Minecraft or similar games. High-end architecture does imply certain software use and ability to implement high quality visuals. This is what pax world does and this is definitely unique. When I first met Matt (CEO of pax.world) he showed us the land they build, the vision they have and as well convinced us with his personal enthusiasm. When we started to work with their tech guys, we understood that their level of production is absolutely high-end and they invested in staff that is beyond average. I believe that this is a crucial decision and another plus of pax.world.
What has been the biggest challenge with your project at pax.world?
Actually, the cooperation so far has been really easy and on a partnership basis. With pax.world you always get immediate response, the team is outspoken and clear, visions can be implemented and their interest in developing ideas and taking time to discuss the understanding and development of metaverse is astonishing and meets our own policy of not only selling a product but being part of the creation of an extended world.
What is the biggest achievement with your project at pax.world?
I think visibility is a though issue for a start-up like us. We hardly have any marketing budget so we absolutely want to partner up with companies that love our work and want to promote us. This is the case with pax.world and we are looking forward to taking the next steps with this incredible metaverse they’re building.
What are the next steps for NF Architects, the 1-to-2-year plan?
Our goal is to create awareness for the necessity of architecture in the metaverse. There is a difference between building a game environment and architecture in the metaverse. Our architects work very similar to real life. They spend time and passion in understanding the clients needs. Metaverse should not be limited to an exact copy of real life but solve problems in an easier way than in real life and thereby facilitate business. We look at the metaverse as a surreality which means it is not just a digital twin area, but the use of virtuality leads to an improvement also in real life.
Where do you see platforms like pax.world being in 5 to 10 years’ time?
Metaverses, and I shall declare pax.world to be such, will differ by the quality of the experience. pax.world emphasizes on the quality aspect and underlines the necessity of being reachable by anyone. So there is a democratic aspect to pax.world as well. We absolutely believe that pax.world can become a true community with established “inhabitants” throughout the timescale of 5 to 10 years from now.
Where can people support NF Architects and pax.world and do you have any final words?
Anyone who enters virtuality and wants to establish a perception of themselves or their businesses in the metaverse should go for quality. It is useful to understand the long-term vision and plan the platforms have. Then you choose and if you start building in the metaverse you learn that having an architect, with the education and understanding of his profession, will make a difference that can be very useful for your appearance in virtuality. In real life you still meet the real people but in virtual life it is all about what you see and experience first of all on a visual basis. And there is so much potential to express what your message is.
The metaverse and virtuality in general are the future. It is really amazing growing into these worlds, starting to ask general questions on how we live, how we present ourselves, how we communicate and how we can inspire each other easier through the use of this new world.
Learn more about NF Architects and pax.world here:
https://nf-architecture.io/
https://pax.world/
