It’s been a few months since we chatted to Bored Claude, a fresh faced project about to drop the first NFTs of a collection.
We’ve had 3 drops now including some collaborations with great projects, the project goes from strength to strength and is grabbing the attention of more and more NFT collectors.
We felt it was high time for an update with Claude to see how things were going and what was coming up.
How’s it going Claude? It was February when we last spoke to you and the first drop hadn’t happened yet. How are things with BCPC?
Yooo CNFT World! Wow is that all? Feels like ages ago now, I’m pretty sure the NFT scene functions in dog years.
Things are great; the 3 drops up to this point have gone better than I’d have hoped, and even in this bear market the momentum and demand is still high. The vibe in the House of Claude is still positive and chilled, which is a credit to the beautiful Claudashians who hang there, love those people.
Tell us about the sourcing of the costumes for Claude and the message behind that.
Sure thing! Almost everything I use in the styles is 2nd hand, even the props. eBay, Vinted and local charity shops have done me a great service getting everything together. I also even have a deal with a local charity shop called Vintage at Shekinah, who let me borrow anything I like in the shop for the shoots. In return I’m auctioning off a piece from each drop and donating the funds to them, to help in their cause of supporting local people struggling with homelessness, mental health issues and addiction. I do still have to buy the odd prop new, but I work hard keeping that to a minimum.
The message behind this is simple. There is waaaay too much quality stuff in the world already, that humans don’t need to buy MORE new stuff!
Capitalism has people busting their asses at work to buy shit that they don’t need. This is ever more evident in the fashion industry.
Clothes are made and sold to be disposable, and there’s a massive environmental and humanitarian cost for that. I’m here to show the world you don’t need to buy cheap, new clothes to look good!
If a gorilla can look as beautiful as I do in cheap, but quality 2nd hand clothes, then you can too!
What have you learnt about running an NFT project in the last few months?
That it’s A LOT of work for a 1-ape team. For me, it’s the sourcing of items to use in the creative, and the marketing, which is so time consuming. You need to put the hours in to keep up with the momentum of the scene, else you’ll get left behind very quickly.
The thing with my project is that I was living this lifestyle before it’s inception, shopping for 2nd hand stuff and banging the mass consumption drum is part of who I am. My project has given me an opportunity to marry my creativity and activism in one and I’m bloody loving it!
I’ve recently taken away the self-made pressure of 1 drop a month also, as it was unfair on the family having it take up all my time. I’ll still aim for that, but it can be tough to find the props I want sometimes, so I’m cool with the drops happening whenever they do.
How many drops are left and how can people get involved?
There’s 7 drops left for my 500 Styles collection!
I have 1 more shoot to do for Vol.4, then the editing, then I’ll be letting those out in the wild to bring the supply up to 200. Up to this point every drop has been a white list only sale, but for Vol.4 I’m taking a different approach to hopefully get more people involved.
Half of the drop of 50 will be a WL mint, and the other half I will be holding a flash auction event over 2 days in the House of Claude (Discord). So anyone who wants in, but are put off by the high price on the secondary, this is a good chance you can pick up a Claude for less than the floor.
As a 1/1 indie artist, it’s not easy to gauge what your stuff is worth when setting mint prices. Auctions are deff the way to go.
I’ve spoken with quite a few artists recently, mentioned getting into NFTs with their work and most are hesitant as they read a lot about NFTs being a scam or that their work will get ripped off. What would you say to any artist out there who is considering NFTs but maybe a little concerned?
I would say that if we all believed everything the media pump out we wouldn’t leave our house for fear of getting game over’d by something or other!
All I can really do is speak of my experience as an indie artist in the scene: NFTs have changed my life for the better. I can create and sell my art with very little overheads or commissions to pay, have a passive income with the royalties, and I can easily engage with collectors and supporters of the project which is great for motivation! The life of an artist can be very solitary, but not with NFTs.
I really do believe that any artist can make waves in the scene if they can find a way to stand out, just like the real world. People are getting rather tired of the standard algo-gen project model, and the more the mainstream adapts to this movement the wider the audience for true artists will become. There is no better time than now for artists and NFTs!
I’ve listened in on a few Spaces you’ve done recently and one thing you’ve tried to get across is the difference between the artistic projects and the “brand” projects. Not all artists want to have to offer up utility with their work. The art is the utility. How do you see BCPC? As a purely artistic project?
I’m an indie artist. BCPC is a concept project and the 500 Styles collection is my first masterpiece of the project.
Each NFT of the 500 Styles collection is a piece to the bigger puzzle. It may be a bit ambitious, but I’m hoping that I can attract the attention of a big auction house like Christie’s, to auction off the final NFT of the collection (Claude #0501) which will be a montage of every piece from 500 Styles, like Beeple did with his Everydays. If I can pull that off I think the utility thing would be sewn up with all the Claude collectors, as each Claude by then would be worth a pretty penny.
It’s a long road in NFT terms, but things are going better than I could have hoped for at this point. My mission has always been to become famous so I can spread the word of the impacts of mass consumption, what better way than to sell a piece for millions in a world renowned auction house. The media won’t know what hit ’em! This is an opportunity to show the world that NFTs can be used for good!
How has the dip in ADA, and crypto in general, affected your outlook on the project and NFTs in general?
Being honest, it’s not been easy. This project takes up a lot of my time. Seeing the fruits of my labour halve in size has been a bastard. My part-time job covers my outgoings, and what I make from the project is my disposable income and savings. As a creative, I’m pretty used to living with not much money now so I’m cool with it, plus there’s plenty of humans out there worse off than me so I’m thankful for what I have.
Regardless of the price of ADA, in my eyes, selling creative through NFTs is the evolution in the art world I’ve been waiting for! I can’t wait till the mainstream realise what a good thing we’ve got going here. Once they do, hopefully that will bring less volatility to crypto in general.
The last drop had some classic “Claudes”, some of favourites being the Rudi Voller Claude, the Furble Collab and the Ohh_meed collab. What have you got in store for us with the next drop? Any more collabs?
For Vol.3 I definitely hit a sweet spot with collabs. That’s something I really like about the project, the natural progression of it.
I’m in talks with a few people regarding collabs, but Vol.4 will probs not see any as the timing isn’t right for us. But for Vol.5 I have a big collab which I’m proper excited about! Keeping that very much under my hat right now though, sorry girls and guys.
BCPC merch seems to be popping up all over the place, where can people buy Official BCBC merch though?
You mean the ton of sites ripping my designs and selling knock off BCPC merch!? I couldn’t believe that when I saw it, made me laugh and cry at the same time! If it wasn’t for the environmental and fashion activist message I wouldn’t be that annoyed, free advertising after all. But I need to be careful with the brand due to what it stands for.
All official BCPC merch can ONLY be bought through my site boredclaudepc.teemill.com. Teemill are an incredible company who are focused on offering print-on-demand fashion to the masses. Making clothes using only organic cotton, made in factories powered by renewable energy. And the best bit for me is once the clothing is finally unwearable, you can scan the QR code on the garment label and print off a free delivery label to send the item back to them, so they can recycle it and make it into new clothes! There will always be a need and want for new clothes to be made, this model is the most environmentally and ethically conscious way I’ve found so far. Go check them out.
How do you see the NFT space at the moment? There are so many copy/derivative projects popping up.
It’s still mainly being used as a casino for people to grow their bags. You see projects pop up which are clearly just trying to make a quick buck. Nothing against them, it’s the way of the world, but those projects make the case for selling real art through NFTs, or creating a brand with an honest purpose, all the more difficult.
The market is governed by what’s in demand, as long as people are willing to buy these cheap, knock off crappy projects, you’re going to keep seeing them. It’s up to the community to make a stand! If no-one bought them then they wouldn’t be worth the time to create them!
Real art in the scene is growing, but we’re still massively in the minority. Cardano brings an opportunity in reaction to Ethereum. The environmentally conscious approach to the blockchain means Cardano will appeal to a lot more of the wider society. But it’s reputation is being tarnished by the shite derivative projects that keep popping up!
People, stop buying this crap, please! Cardano, and your bags, will be a lot better for it in the long run.
Before you buy into a project, ask them, what’s their aim and why they’re doing it. That usually gives you a good idea of whether they’re your kinda people and whether they’re worth investing in.
When we first spoke to you, you hadn’t yet bought an NFT yourself. Has that changed? What do you hold?
Ummmm….yes that’s changed! Way too much cool stuff out there not to get tempted.
Too many to list, but my fave NFTs come from Earth Natives, Clay Lips (2nd season looking fire), OnBoard Furbles, Aeoniumsky, Curse Birds, The Refresh, Zachary Mojica and Turf. All bought or acquired through different means and for different reasons, though I’ve not flipped any and probably never will.
I still need to get on with acquiring a piece or two from OddBoyz and Maxing’s We’re All Programmed. Two awesome indie artists, top lads too.
Thanks for the great questions and for giving me the opportunity to tell the world my mission once again! And to the Cardano community, Claudey-babes loves you all 😘
Big thanks to Claude for taking the time to answer our questions again. Make sure you are following BCPC on Twitter so you don’t miss a thing.
Check out our CNFT calendar before you go.