Quick take:
- Alexandre Arnault has updated his Twitter and Instagram profile picture with a CryptoPunks avatar.
- It is not the first time Alexandre Arnault has embraced NFTs.
- LVMH has filled a new VP of digital innovation role based in New York.
The scion of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, Alexandre Arnault, has joined the CryptoPunks family with a new profile picture (pfp) change. This comes just days after his father, chairman and CEO of LVMH, warned against “metaverse bubbles”.
A CryptoPunks bot tracking the NFT purchases tweeted that Arnault’s Punk #3167 was bought for 160 ETH ($416,427.19). The tweet was acknowledged by Arnault.
The 29-year-old was formerly the CEO of luggage manufacturer Rimowa, and now leads product and communications at jewellery brand Tiffany & Co, which was acquired by LVMH last January.
In response to Arnault’s pfp change, CEO and founder of luxury brands NFT marketplace Exclusible, Thibault Launay tweeted: “I am happy to welcome @alexarnault from @TiffanyAndCo to the #PUNK club! The future is bright. WAGMI.”
This is not the first time that Arnault has embraced NFTs. While luxury design house Hermes is suing the creator of Metabirkins NFT collection for copyright infringement, Arnault has taken a different approach with Urs Fischer’s NFT artwork referencing Jean Schlumberger’s “Bird on a Rock” created for Tiffany & Co in the 1960s.
Even though Tiffany & Co tweeted about the NFT, it doesn’t appear to be a collaboration between the brand and the artist as no official announcements have ever been made. The jewellery brand confirmed with Vogue Business that it purchased the 1/1 NFT art, which sold for $182,000 on MakersPlace.
During LVMH’s earnings call last Thursday, LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault said: “At this stage, we are very much in the real world, selling real products. We are not interested in selling virtual sneakers for 10 euros. We’re not into that.”
Despite that, blockchain industry experts remain optimistic about the LVMH family’s moves in the NFT and blockchain space.
“The fact that Bernard Arnault pronounced the word metaverse and NFT is encouraging for our industry and Alexandre Arnault changing his profile picture is probably also a good signal,” Pierre Nicolas Hurstel, CEO and co-founder of luxury and fashion goods NFT platform Arianee, tells Vogue Business.
Recently in January, LVMH appointed Nelly Mensah as VP of Digital Innovation – Head of Crypto and Metaverse, a new role based in New York.
Last November, Givenchy – which is part of LVMH – launched 15 NFTs created by the brand’s creative director Matthew M. Williams in collaboration with graphic artist Chito.
In April last year, LVMH announced that it has joined forces with Prada and Cartier to develop Aura Blockchain Consortium, designed for consumers to access product history and proof of authenticity of luxury goods using blockchain technology.
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