LONDON – NFTs (non-fungible tokens) can digitally represent any asset, including online-only assets like digital artwork and real assets such as real estate, according to Investopedia. Urban Outfitters will be supporting the launch of Smiley NFT artwork by legendary graffiti artist André Saraiva in celebration of the brand’s 50th year anniversary.

On April 15, 500 NFTs will be launched by Urban Outfitters to mark Smiley’s 50th anniversary milestone as part of the Smiley Collectors’ Edition. In celebration of the anniversary, Smiley has enlisted the creative eye of Sarah Andelman, co-founder of the world-renowned Parisian concept store Colette, to curate 50 halo partnerships, and as part of the halo partnerships, Smiley enlisted the famous graffiti artist André Saraiva to reimagine the iconic Smiley logo. Active in the early Parisian graffiti movement, André became widely recognized for his cartoonish characters and alter ego Mr. A, which became his signature design and an iconic character in the fashion and art scene across the globe.

For the 50th anniversary, André has created a set of signature works of art with his unique take on the iconic Smiley logo, creating a truly limited-edition set of designs. The customized Smiley logo sees André play with the recognizable Smiley face and replace elements with his own established graffiti art style. André brings together his famous Mr. A alter ego and combines it with Smiley’s design to create a true celebration of two iconic subcultures. The unique Smiley logo design by André has been developed into a NFT artwork with 500 editions available and sold via Urban Outfitters on OMGdrops.com. Not only collectible artwork, but the NFTs will act as “utility tokens” that will unlock prizes and rewards for select NFT ticket holders; to be announced weekly over the course of 10 weeks. Consumers will have access to purchase these rare NFTs using crypto currency Ethereum (ETH), priced at 0.2ETH, the equivalent of approximately £393.65 GBP / €467 EURO. The public mint of André Saraiva 500-piece NFT collection goes live or “drops” on/ will be available from Friday, April 15, 10 AM GMT/BST sold via Urban Outfitters on the online NFT marketplace OMGDrops, an NFT platform founded by Greek entrepreneur Jon Vlachogiannis: www.OMGdrops.com.

All Urban Outfitters profits will be going towards to Free Movement Skateboarding, a sponsored NGO partner to THE SKATEROOM.

The NFT project is under the management of North&Touth Entertainment Group: www.northandtouth.com; a multimedia company and Web3 agency based in Beverly Hills, CA, founded by Greek-American siblings Tatiana and Nicholas Hadjisava Kaufman.

As part of the 50-year anniversary, Urban Outfitters will retail a range of Smiley Collectors’ Editions as homeware and fashion pieces online and in-stores, including collaborations with iets frans…, Champion, By Samii Ryan, Crocs, Havaianas, Market, Eastpak, THE SKATEROOM, Sunnylife and Yellowpop. More information is available online: www.urbanoutfitters.com.

Tatiana and Nicholas Hadjisava Kaufman, Founders of North&Touth Entertainment Group, spoke with The National Herald about the NFT project. Born in Manhattan, the siblings grew up in Kolonaki in the center of Athens, Greece.

“Our family has roots in Messinia, Peloponnese, a small village called Mantzari, just outside of Kalamata, adjacent to Meligala and Zevgolatio. On the other side/ our Grandfather’s side, we are Pontian,” they told TNH, adding that “the founder of OMGDrops, Jon Vlachogiannis, is also from Messinia in the Peloponnese.”

When asked how long the project took, they told TNH, “We’ve been working on the project since November 2021, and it launches this Friday, April 15, 10 AM GMT!”

About the Athens-based nonprofit, they said: “Free Movement Skateboarding is a sponsored NGO partner to THE SKATEROOM. We were so inspired by their initiative and activities and found it to embody the values and spirit of THE SKATEROOM and Urban Outfitters alike.”

They continued: “We love that they support underprivileged youth in meaningful ways by encouraging, inspiring, empowering, uplifting, creative and community-oriented outlets! Artist André Saraiva was also moved by the cause. Also, the NFTs will act as ‘utility tokens’ that will unlock prizes and rewards for select NFT ticket holders; to be announced weekly over the course of 10 weeks. One of the exclusive prizes, for one lucky NFT holder, will be an André Saraiva x THE SKATEROOM skateboard!”

“People can learn more about prizes and rewards by joining our Discord Community: https://discord.gg/cppUcXr4Wf.”

When asked what they are working on next, the siblings told TNH: “North&Touth Entertainment Group is preparing many cool NFT collection drops to launch this year – collections they are building-out for celebrity performers, athletes, artists, and photographers, including even tourism and financing media productions through NFTs!”