Nthenya Mwendwa, a Kenyan artist and luxury leather bag designer has turned to the space to sell her digital pieces.
She has displayed her collection, Mistari at Fibo, a Cardano NFT marketplace run by a global blockchain technology company, Emurgo.
NFTs are digital assets that cannot be replicated—they are encoded on blockchain— representing items such as art, music, videos, gaming items and photographs.
As millennial millionaires splash their fortunes on digital art assets being sold on blockchain-backed platforms, a small group of Kenyans is joining in to make wealth.
The non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are becoming the most sought-after digital art assets.
Nthenya Mwendwa, a Kenyan artist and luxury leather bag designer has turned to the space to sell her digital pieces.
She has displayed her collection, Mistari at Fibo, a Cardano NFT marketplace run by a global blockchain technology company, Emurgo.
The artist joins a few Kenyans among them world marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge, making money from the global NFT craze.
“My passion for telling stories about my beautiful heritage and showing that Africa can make luxury products that can compete on a global scale led me to tap into the NFT space,” said Nthenya.
“I wanted to share my stories and fashion in creative ways. And as an African designer who wants to share my African experience through my fashion, NFTs and soon the metaverse presents a unique and exciting way to let other people across the global experience the same and have ownership in that experience,” she said.
NFTs are digital assets that cannot be replicated—they are encoded on blockchain— representing items such as art, music, videos, gaming items and photographs.
Mistari collection is made of five different NFT artworks called Binti, created to mirror the women involved in the value chain in making her bags, also an appealing addition to the brand and the NFTs on Fibo platform.
Each NFT will be different and could either have fish leather or Maasai beadwork or both. She will also be rolling out one NFT at a time.
The public blockchain platform allows artist and musicians to transact their creative works using Cardano’s underlying digital currency, ADA.
Each NFT is being sold for 250ADA equivalent to Sh30,897 as quoted on Thursday, however subject to dollar currency valuation.
This means the five would be sold at Sh154,485.
Nthenya is part of the fourth cohort of artist introduction under Cardano NFTS. The artwork is being displayed alongside other NFT versions from artists based in Australia, the US, and India.
Open to global crypto enthusiasts, the collection is representing her Kenyan roots and the strong female lineage that defines her artistic brand where she has been working with women to create the bags.
She runs a leather bags designer brand, The.Label.Saba’.
The bags are made from hair-on cowhide, Maasai beading, fish leather, and top grain leather with an eye on the international market.
The prices range from $150 to $420 (Sh17,289 to Sh48,409).
She has been working with the Ushanga Association, owned by women from the pastoral communities, in the traditional bead-making. She also works with women in the fish leather factory.
The digital artwork has been on creation since December with the help of a graphic designer.
“I worked alongside a talented graphic designer to bring my vision for this collection to life. It has taken some time to get to this point but I am happy that we achieved the desired effect for the artwork, which I truly feel translates the brand’s message through the expression of my art,” she said.
She is now looking to pursue the NFT space to support the growth of her brand.
“As the brand grows its presence in the real world, we want that the same growth is reflected in the NFT space and the metaverse,” she added.
In April 2021, Kipchoge dipped his toes into the world of the NFT, packaging two highlight videos of his September 2018 world record run in Berlin and the May 2019 Ineos 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, where he became the first to run the marathon in under two hours.
Kipchoge, widely considered the greatest marathoner of all time, sold the two NFTs for Sh4.3 million in the auction that was hosted by the online platform Momentible.
