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Christie’s launched two major initiatives this week in an effort to cater to younger collectors: Department X, which will focus on streetwear and pop culture, and Christie’s 3.0, a platform to handle NFT sales entirely on the blockchain.
Department X, which launched Monday, will be led by Caitlin Donovan, a founding member and current head of handbags and accessories at Christie’s Americas. She has worked in specialized sales of sneakers, streetwear and other luxury collectibles for the past three years.
Nike Donda West Air Jordan VI designed by Kanye West
Courtesy of Christie’s
“With exciting sales that will cross multiple genres in popular culture and collecting – music, fashion and sports history – I am excited for new and existing customers of Christie’s to embark on this journey with us,” she said in a press release on Tuesday.
The department will hold online auctions, with previews in New York, as well as private sales exhibitions throughout the year. The debut private sale exhibition will showcase two pairs of Nike Air Yeezy sneakers designed by rapper and fashion designer Kanye West.
One pair, the Nike Air Yeezy 1 prototype, was the first sneaker West designed with Nike creative director Mark Smith and designer Tiffany Beers. The second pair, the Nike Donda West Air Jordan VI, was designed for West’s mother and was never released for public sale.
Christie’s is a descendant of the new category of sneakers and streetwear. Its biggest competitor Sotheby’s established a department dedicated to this collecting space – with online sales only – in the first half of 2020. Bonhams has had a department that handles auctions, both live and online, of pop culture collectibles, including film, entertainment, music, and sports memories, since the early 1980s.
I am what I am by Diana Sinclair
Courtesy of Christie’s
On Tuesday, Christie’s launched Christie’s 3.0, a platform to fully enable NFT sales on the Ethereum blockchain network. The marketplace was developed in collaboration with three leading companies in the Web3 community: Manifold, Chainalysis and Spatial.
The new platform has incorporated compliance and tax tools and will feature high-quality digital artwork and curated collections, according to Nicole Sales Giles, Christie’s director of digital art sales.
The first sale, which runs from September 18 to October 11, will feature nine NFTs specially created by visual artist Diana Sinclair to launch Christie’s 3.0. Estimates range from ETH 4 to 8 (US$5,245 to US$10,489).
Sinclair, 18, was recognized by Fortune as one of the 50 most influential people in the NFT space. She is the curator behind Digital Diaspora, a Juneteenth exhibition highlighting the work of black artists and creatives in the NFT community.
Last year, she also collaborated with the estate of Whitney Houston to create a digital video featuring rare archival footage of the late singer that sold for approximately $1 million.
