🐯 Gossamer Rozen is taking Tigerbob to the catwalk (Issue #63)

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Gossamer Rozen’s work is as instantly recognizable as they are, and it’s imbued with the same fearlessness and self-confidence they exude. Their Tigerbob NFT project of pixelated, ferocious felines is unmistakable, and now Rozen is taking Tigerbob from the blockchain to the catwalk, and holders of the NFTs can use them to unlock discounts on the limited-run items.

New drops of clothing and accessories happen every month — the next one, in fact, takes place this week, and there’s a great breakdown of the whole project on Rozen’s blog over here. Rozen is paying close attention to every step of the process, ensuring heirloom-quality “slow fashion” instead of fast fashion frivolity and fleetingness.

I spoke to the artist via video call from their home in Brooklyn, New York, about the challenges of taking a digital brand into the physical realm, how Web3 has changed since they began participating in it, and how to turn talk of inclusivity and access from lip-service to reality.

Craig Wilson: I find it hard to imagine anyone in web3 not knowing who you are. But for those few outliers who don’t, who is Gossamer Rozen?

Gossamer Rozen: I'm a fine artist who works in a variety of mediums. Traditional art is my focus. Sculpture and illustration are what I’m most well-known for. I also work in a lot of textile art, and, obviously, digital media with the NFTs I’ve released. I'm also a tattoo artist, so I have quite a few different things in my wheelhouse that I like to work with.

But I'm primarily a fine artist working in Web2 and Web3, and my focus is being able to unite all my different practices under an umbrella that is definable and really unapologetically myself. It's very personal, and it's very much about my identity — understanding it, sharing it, and communicating it with the rest of the world. Because, ultimately, art is a medium for me to communicate.

CW: In creating your various NFT collections, have you found that Web3 enables you to communicate through your work in ways that aren’t possible in other mediums?

GR: I think the most interesting aspect of Web3 is ownership. There’s a way for artists and collectors and fans to really communicate with each other and interact with the artwork in a way that's not possible in the traditional art world.

One of the things I’ve liked to explore is incorporating feedback directly from collectors who own my pieces and creating new work based on those types of conversations. I’ve been working on that with the MRAMMOU project, which is based on these historical objects called gold weights that originated in West Africa.

That project’s very focused on collaborating in some way with collectors who buy these one-of-one pieces. Being able to do something new with the metadata and having a prompt, so that it’s based on the collector’s feedback, is very interesting. And that builds the project in a way that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

Originally, MRAMMOU were tattoo designs that I would do specifically for people who are African American or of African descent, but I felt like I wasn't getting the project out to enough people by making it bespoke in that kind of way.

So, I felt like this is a really interesting way to take a project that was originally something that was very based in a more Web2 and bring it out to more people without having to worry about things like cultural appropriation, and a lot of the heavier aspects of the culture that I was trying to represent and express through my work, by making it not only two-dimensional illustrations but also being able to collaborate with collectors and make it more of a collaborative art project.

It feels like Tigerbob was a combination of some of your previous projects coalescing into something a little more clearly defined.

Yes, for sure. Tigerbob is really the result of over 10 years of iterating and developing my style in multiple different mediums and abstractions, whether it's more representational as animals, or figural or botanical, to something more abstract and pattern work like textiles — woven, printed, knitted, and quilted types of work.

So Tigerbob has a history of being both physical and digital?

I really have been in both worlds: whether it's tactile or digital on a screen or printed on paper or on something that’s more of a home good or more of an heirloom item. Being able to bring those things together was really important to me, and Tigerbob does it successfully in my mind because it is expressed in this pixelated way.

The Tigerbob of the clothing line is the smallest version of this tiger that I've been drawing or reproducing in multiple ways and that I heavily identify with. It's the smallest version of this tiger which can be successfully iterated in basically any medium — 2D or 3D — both in a more illustrative, hand-drawn method or by the stitch counts for a pattern for cross stitch or knitting or weaving.

Tigerbob being pixels was very intentional, and being able to translate it across a variety of different mediums, whether it's more abstracted or more pattern-like, or more the focal point in a more visual work.

Numerous artists have moved from physical to digital with Web3. Here you’ve got something going in the opposite direction.

Yeah, with my work, I often iterate the same type of visual language in multiple different mediums, whether going from a drawing to a sculpture or a sculpture to a drawing… or even drawing the sculpture.

I studied sculpture at college, and I dove into just exploring different mediums and learning different mediums and trying to learn different skills so I can attempt to translate my visual language across different methods. So, being able to go back and forth between these multiple different mediums is something really important to me.

What inspired you to make clothing? And why is some of your fine art fashion work comprised of one-of-a-kind pieces?

Not very long ago, no less than 100 years ago, clothing meant very bespoke, custom items that had heirloom value and lots of value both in community and culture and also within a family. These items were passed down and considered very special and important. I think that’s an aspect of clothing that has been lost thanks to a boom in industrial processes and due to fast fashion.

There’s a focus on the “repeat consumer.” It's not about keeping the things you have, it’s about getting new things, which is not very sustainable, both environmentally and in terms of social responsibility.

We’ve also lost sight of the fact that a lot of the history of clothing is tied to work that women used to do, whether it was expert weavers, expert knitters, or all of these other things that used to be done by hand by experts.

Although things have moved to machinery, there's still a lot of expertise that's needed to produce heirloom-grade garments. And from a social perspective, it's just not valued enough as a trade. I think it's important for my kind of work to touch on my ability to create garments, one at a time, myself, by hand, the same way I'm able to make an art piece entirely by hand.

It’s about understanding and having respect and patience for the process — which is very meditative in and of itself, which is something I really appreciate — and being able to show that with a clothing line that is still respectful of that type of one-of-a-kind work.

It took me a lot of time to decide how to scale that up in a way that was meaningful, touched on all those different aspects of sustainability, and also could still reflect the one-of-a-kind of nature of my work. The result was creating a line of knitwear.

Nothing is printed or thrown onto the clothing itself. It's actually knitted, which means the fabric is created in that exact way that you see it, which is something that people I think forget is such an important aspect of clothing that is woven or knitted: The design is actually created by the thread itself, rather than a die or a press.

I started learning the knitting machine about a year ago, and I've been iterating on and practicing my own skills so I can also design work that, mechanically and architecturally, can be built in a way that makes sense based on how knitting pieces are constructed. There are a lot of technical aspects to why I've chosen to go into a clothing line.

The personal aspects are about the trade and honoring the history of the trade. It's very personal — being able to design my own clothing that I feel I identify with, but that also has a function in that it’s highly wearable.

How limited are the Tigerbob garments?

I’m working with my own manufacturer in Sunset Park in Brooklyn to make these pieces, and we're very intentional about making very low-edition pieces — like, less than 50 pieces per item — which is very much in line with the slow fashion movement.

Do you think there will be a lot of interest in the clothing line from degens who like the Tigerbob NFT collection?

When you work in multiple different mediums, you also end up placing your work in many different marketplaces. I have my digital collectibles, and there's a specific type of market and crowd of people who like to buy, collect or trade those types of items.

I have my tattoo community — people who are enthusiastic about getting permanent ink on their bodies in my art style. I have my fine art enthusiasts who appreciate my one-of-one physical artworks they can frame or my sculptures they can display. And then I have people who enjoy luxury fashion and low editions.

Often these markets will not intersect. So you will have people who love tattoos and are willing to spend a lot of money on tattoos, but they're not willing to spend the same amount of money on luxury fashion, and then you have people who enjoy digital collectibles, but they're not going to spend the same amount of money on a tattoo.

In many ways, I have to start from scratch with a new audience who is aware of the work I'm creating in that market, and they need time to find the work and get the word out, and that does take time. I had to do the same thing for tattoos when I started advertising my work in 2018 and 2019. And I had to do the same thing again when I started with NFTs in 2021.

That said, as I’ve become better known, it’s become easier to build those new audiences because seeing my success in other marketplaces and having more connections with people in multiple industries that may intersect does help quite a bit. I am confident that, in time, people will find the work that I'm creating, but it definitely does take longer when you're trying to make something that isn't trying to be a sellout.

I'm very intentional about the work I'm creating, and I'm not sacrificing the convenience of making something cheaper with less sustainable practices that are more marketable in the type of macro conditions we have. I'm definitely trying to be as true to my vision as possible with the type of work I'm producing, and that does make more of an uphill battle to find that unique set of collectors who love and appreciate the type of slow fashion I'm creating.

It’s clear you’re passionate about a range of mediums and different parts of your creative practice. Does moving between projects — and sometimes coming back to them or leaving them for a time for new ones — help keep things interesting for you?

Absolutely. That’s the main reason why I chose to dive into different mediums and not just study illustration in college. I get bored. I need to be exploring multiple different mediums and doing different things with my hands especially.

Some of it is practical, too. It’s very easy to get repetitive motion syndrome or carpal tunnel when you're constantly doing the same motions with your hands all the time, and it's also very easy to get mentally burnt out creatively if you're so focused on the same method of creating and solving the same problems in your mind.

I think that working in multiple mediums is challenging, and it also kind of refreshes my brain, and I'm able to think about the work I'm creating in a different way when I switch back and forth like this.

And maybe it improves each of them because it gives you a chance to step away and return refreshed.

It gives me exactly that. It allows me to kind of take a breath without having to just stop doing art completely. Although I should take more breaks. I’m trying to learn how to do that more. It's always a better excuse to just try making something in a different media or focus on something else instead.

What’s next for Tigerbob?

The digital collection dropped in May of 2022. And now we have completed our physical drop of Tigerbob in February of 2023. So Tigerbob's entire launch was essentially like a 14-month project. That’s a startup. Being able to create and launch the digital pieces, and now create and launch the physical aspects of this allows the project to build simultaneously in both of these worlds moving forward.

It's good to finally be in a place where things are kind in a maintenance mode, and now I can look at all of the different methods of combining digital tokens with physical clothing, whether that’s token-gated rewards or token-gated discounts — which we already have on our website. If you have a Tigerbob, you can already get a discount, and also sometimes early access to our limited edition pieces, which I think over time will become more significant as more people who don't have Tigerbob tokens become more aware of the project.

I'm mostly looking to reach the non-Web3 world with my merchandise and show them the perks of having a token and participating in Web3. I think it’s a very good onboarding moment for collectors of my work who may not understand the benefit of having NFTs or participating in Web3 at all. That's something important that I I'm planning on focusing on.

Another aspect for current Web3 holders is providing them with more of the story of Tigerbob. I'll be dropping a lot more NFTs related to the visual narrative of Tigerbob, which I haven't had a chance to express yet. I'm already working on a number of 1/1 pieces that will share the story, and most of that will be coming from the BESTIARY collection, which is already established and to which I'll be adding more details in the coming months as well.

That will lead to the new token that’s still in development. I’m still trying to find the best way to create the Tigerbob bodies, which is an important aspect of the story of Tigerbob. It was intentional that the Tigerbob PFP was just a head, but I want to share more of the story around why it exists and how it ties into my pre-existing Gossamer Rozen universe.

These are stories that I've been telling since I was a teenager, and some of that has been expressed in my tattoo illustrations. I've made multiple zines and little books and comics about my work. So I'm really excited to be able to express a lot of that now with Web3 through Tigerbob.

How has the Web3 space changed since you joined it?

It's undeniable that the Web3 world is very finance focused — it’s a very fast-moving, fast-paced world that many artists, myself included, aren’t used to. I now realize how important it is to be aware of the boom and bust cycles, but also to know when to keep the blinders on so you can keep working and not be distracted by them.

Being a first-timer in Web3 and crypto as a whole, there was a learning curve to understand how I needed to create the Tigerbob project and how I needed to manage my business and finances accordingly, depending on the volatility in the market as a whole. That means being able to be mindful of pivoting your projects based on trends — or not pivoting based on trends — and ensuring you're going to have enough money for your taxes… things like that.

Also, things take time. I entered Web3 space in March 2021, but I didn't drop the project until May of 2022. So it took a lot of learning and a lot of thought to ensure I wasn't just dropping something for the sake of it without being really mindful of the consequences of dropping something so large, and the amount of money that was going to be poured into it. I had to ensure I had a plan for it. That was really important for me.

Do you feel a different sort of duty to collectors in the Web3 world than you do to those in the traditional art world because the mechanics of the relationship between collector and artist is different?

I do feel a different kind of pressure, but it mostly has to do with the expectations in Web3, and those need to change because they’re not correct. It was really important for me to be as clear as possible with the Tigerbob project that it’s a long-term one. It’s not something you’re going to get a return on in a week, or a month, or maybe even a year.

From my perspective, I should never have to tell anybody not to speculate on work that I produce. But people are still going to do that in Web3. Despite me not considering Tigerbob a speculative asset, other people will. That’s part of Web3 culture.

So it's important for me to be able to look not only at what people are saying about the price but what people are saying about the collection as a whole and my work as a whole. I've been at this for over a decade, and there was a point where I had very little social capital. The fact that I've grown the way I've grown is a reminder that things take time, and that’s something people in Web3 often fail to recognize.

There's a lot of grandstanding about Web3 being this great equalizer and this route to inclusivity for artists outside the establishment or who’ve been underrepresented in it. Does that ring true for you, given your experience, or is it still a pipe dream?

I think the most important thing that people forget about Web3 when they make those kinds of global statements is that Web3 is brand new, and it's also so small. It may appear from the perspective of those in it that there is a type of equalization occurring, but the same macro issues that cause a large disconnect between accessibility for minorities and other groups apply to Web3.

You need an internet connection to get into Web3. Many people don’t have that, or access to computers, or access to crypto. Then there's the massive learning curve that comes with using the technology. Based on just those basic principles, we are very far away from there being any kind of equalizing capacity for Web3, and I think that it is largely a pipe dream.

Now look, there are many examples where these dreams have come true — people in Africa being able to access Web3 and being able to show and sell their work and get paid without having to deal with the centralized systems of government and money. Those examples are real, but they’re just not widespread enough to say Web3 is actually an equalizer yet.

Have you seen a shift in the sort of art that gets created in Web3?

I think the stigma around what is digital art in Web3 has changed a bit since 2021. A lot of that has to do with titles like NFT Now and galleries like Superchief, which are trying to uplift and define what is “good art” in the space, rather than just focusing on what the projects are that are making people money.

Also, from a cultural perspective, it’s still hard to convince people outside of Web3 that there are more than just eight PFP projects running around. I think changing that is going to take a really long time.

Do you think it would be helpful if we stopped using the term NFT and spoke instead about “digital art,” and “digital collectibles,” and so on?

Yes, I actually rebranded all of Tigerbob for communications as “digital collectibles” that use NFT technology like smart contracts, because it's difficult for people to understand when the word “NFT” is so loaded culturally with so many negative connotations.

When people see it's literally just digital art that you can collect, it makes a lot of sense, and that's because NFTs can be so many different things. NFTs can track healthcare records, they can track government records, they can track land deeds and houses, and they can track other kinds of assets that don't have anything to do with art.

A lot of NFT projects that are trading and flipping aren’t really art projects. They're more about branding and IP and trading something that provides utility than they are about being art, and the picture that's associated with that sort of smart contract is kind of secondary to the piece itself.

Overall, NFTs are also about tracking the provenance of an asset. The asset doesn't have to be art, so calling all NFTs art understandably confuses people and gets them saying, “This is not art.”

I felt it was important for me to rebrand so I could better define my use of the technology of smart contracts, which is the technology of NFTs. I just happen to be using the technology for fine art.

You can find Gossamer Rozen on Twitter. To see their latest garments and accessories, visit the Tigerbob online store.

You can find Craig Wilson on Twitter.

This week’s Badge was designed by Patrick Lawler.

Metaversal Badges are your key to unique experiences, incredible giveaways, and the wider Metaversal universe. The more Badges you collect the more opportunities you unlock. So what are you waiting for?