Gucci buys into SuperRare DAO, eyes new virtual art space

Fashion brand Gucci is joining its first decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) through a partnership with SuperRare, a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace.

The news was announced on Tuesday at NFT.NYC in a discussion between SuperRare's SVP of Business Development Zack Yanger and Nicolas Oudinot, the CEO Gucci Vault, the company's experimental online store. 

Gucci acquired 150,000 $RARE tokens, worth around $31,000 total at press time, to join the DAO and earn governance rights within the SuperRare community, a company representative confirmed to The Block. 

The buy-in was part of the brand's larger vision for its “Vault Art Space." The virtual space will be powered by SuperRare technology and showcase and sell artworks from NFT artists, Jonathan Perkins, co-founder and chief product officer of SuperRare, told CoinDesk. 

In the past year, Gucci has become heavily involved in the NFT scene. In June 2021, Christie's auctioned its first NFT, a four-minute film. In January of this year, the company launched an NFT collection called SUPERGUCCI. The company launched another NFT project, called the Gucci Grail collection, in March.

Gucci Vault project launched in February to experiment with web3 initiatives. The project has acquired virtual land in The Sandbox.

Gucci’s debut exhibition in virtual space, titled “The Next 100 Years of Gucci," will present a selection of NFT artworks from 29 artists that show “collectible fragment of Gucci’s kaleidoscopic heritage," according to a statement from Gucci. The exhibition will be showcased and auctioned off using ETH directly on Vault’s website in three drops. 

"This project is very, very dear to us. Because it sits at the crossroads of art and fashion," said Oudinot on stage at NFT.NYC.