Carlo Bugatti had a thing for eggs. Once remarking that “the purest perfect shape of nature is the egg,” the patriarch of the Bugatti family passed this belief on to his sons, who would later go on to form a company that produced some of the most luxurious automobiles in existence. Now, that belief — in the perfection of the egg — is coming to life in the form of an NFT set: The Asprey Bugatti Egg Collection.
The product of Asprey Studio in Mayfair, London, and Bugatti, that luxurious automobile manufacturer in France, the Asprey Bugatti Egg Collection will feature 111 digital eggs inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain. And there’s a treat for collectors: A real-life egg made of one of three types of material — carbon fiber, pave diamond, and Asprey imperial jade.
With the real-life eggs made of such material and packing a decent size (6.5 inches in height and 4.5 inches wide at the base), NFT collectors will have to shell out a pretty penny to buy one. Numbers 1-100, made from carbon fiber with precious metals will cost between $20K-50K USD. The rest — formed from diamond and imperial jade — will start at $200K. These price tags are the reason why some call this collection, “The most expensive NFTs on Bitcoin.”
The Egg Collection website offers a brief description of the physical egg: a precious egg-shaped objet with a base that is tall and elegant, containing a swirling lattice that represents the motion of effortless speed. Colors will range from the light and pastel of Asprey and Bugatti to black carbon fiber. The digital Egg will fall in the generative art category, with the Eggs transforming into various oval shapes.
The Man Behind the Asprey Bugatti Egg Collection
The man behind the Egg Collection art is Ali Walker, the Chief Creative Officer at Asprey Studio. He started with the company in 2016 as a visual artist and worked his way up the ranks. In his view, the Asprey Bugatti Egg Collection is a cool part of history and when people look back at this collection in a few years’ time, they’ll see it as a significant one.
He highlighted the collection’s marriage between physical and digital. “I think [this collection’s] going to show that high-end luxury and high-end art can exist on the Bitcoin blockchain and with a physical piece,” he told Rarity Sniper, adding, “It will show that there’s almost a new form of expression and a new way to express art.”
While Walker is the lead man behind the project, he works with a team that created the artwork over a period of 8-9 months. The Eggs, both digital and physical versions, will pay homage to both companies through motifs like a dancing elephant Rembrandt Bugotti sculpted and the Bugotti oval car grille.
The companies chose the Bitcoin blockchain to store the digital Eggs because Ordinals are immutable — which means they can never be changed. In Walker’s view, this is similar to the works Asprey has created in its over two-hundred-year-old history: They will last for centuries.
NFTs and Luxury Goods a Popular Fit
NFTs have proven a boon for many industries, as companies try to capitalize on the popular of this new technology to create additional revenue streams. But few industries have taken to it as much as luxury goods. From specialty clothing companies launching NFT collections to luxury car companies filing Web3 trademark applications, it seems organizations that create really expensive products have found an avenue in Web3.
But, while much of the NFT space is still focused on profile-picture collections, the luxury goods companies try (mostly) for the utility-based drop. For instance, in 2022, luxury brand Prada launched an NFT collection that tied NFTs to in-real-life clothes. Customers didn’t have to choose between the digital or physical item: They received both.
Other luxury goods companies have gone down the membership lane. Six months ago, French fashion house Balmain partnered with MINTNFT to launch an “NFT membership program.” Called “The Balmain Thread,” the program will have up to 10,000 members who will receive a variety of rewards, including future NFT drops.
There is no doubt that a luxury goods company entering Web3 is challenging — as the demographics don’t always line up. The NFT space, for instance, is hip, young, and ruthless. Some of the marketing campaigns from these companies have fallen flat. The same could happen with the Asprey Bugatti Egg Collection drop, which occurs around May 4th.
But even if it does, these companies will likely keep trying to make inroads into Web3. After all, what do they have to lose?
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