Homo Scriptus
Grammatographic haute couture available as NFT

On Thursday the 10th of March, our lecture ‘Homo Scriptus’ at the Printemps de la Typographie conference in Paris took place at the end of the Paris fashion week. This lecture was the final part of our Parisian Pen Triptych and ended with a fashion show of Homo Scriptus: Underware’s new label for grammatographic haute couture.

Grammatographic haute couture
By adding an algorithmic layer on top of OpenType COLRv1 fonts, Homo Scriptus delivers, on the one hand, a typographic system that can be used and applied as any other font. But at the same moment each letter comes with its own dynamics and texture. For this first collection of Homo Scriptus, Printemps de la Typographie 2022, Underware worked closely with the Dutch fashion designer and artist Tessa Bekker. This collaboration led to 33 unique models, which are based on the general subject write, copy, play. All models are build upon the recently published typeface Plakato and are sold as unique NFTs on OpenSea.

Homo Scriptus as NFT
Based upon our experience with other new technological developments in the past, like variable fonts and color fonts, we believe in the benefit of staying curious. And while NFTs have led to many controversial opinions, it is interesting that most of them reflect on the usage of NFTs by some people (the financial aspect) and the shortcoming of the current technological implementation (the energy aspect). But considering that we have been using digital communication like PDFs and email already for many years – also because of ecological reasons – it seems somehow logical that a digital setup will take at the end fewer resources than one based on true products and deliveries. Therefore we decided to keep Homo Scriptus in the digital realm.

At the same time, it is interesting to look at the core principles of NFT, like decentralised distribution and smart contracts, and how they can be used to create a different relation between the maker and the owner. By distributing Homo Scriptus as NFT on OpenSea, we can guarantee on the one hand that the whole collection will always stay visible for everybody in the future, but at the same time create a possibility to engage for everybody who is interested in getting involved with us in this adventure. In the end, the future of NFT will be created just like the internet: it will become what we make out of it.

OpenSea & digital haute couture
Each model of Homo Scriptus is for sale for €33 on OpenSea. Purchasing a model makes you the official owner of this model. If you have never used OpenSea before and do not have a digital wallet, we recommend using MetaMask. Once you have created an account, you can add Ethers (the cryptocurrency) with your credit card and you are ready to go.

In the recent months, more and more fashion brands added a virtual companion to their physical collection, allowing their customer to wear Haute Couture in the virtual space. And while it is also (theoretical) possible to wear Homo Scriptus in the purely virtual space, it is created with he idea to connect the virtual with the physical. Therefore each model is a pre-generated counting loop, which you can for example install on a watch. (If you are the owner of an NFT and are interested in wearing your model on an AppleWatch, please get in contact with us. We are happy to help you out.)

▶ Explore the NFT collection on OpenSea.