Q&A: Titipun ‘Taitern’ Tubthong – Thailand’s NFT community has the power to shine
Celebrating its fourth year, NFT.NYC is an annual event in Times Square as the world’s leading Non-Fungible Token event committed to giving a voice to the growing NFT community.
To learn more about the event, we recently caught up with Publicis Groupe Thailand’s Titipun Tubthong. Tubthong is an NFT artist known as ‘Taitern’, and Executive Creative Director at Brilliant & Million, which is part of Publicis Groupe Thailand.
This year he was invited to attend NFT.NYC to give a talk called: “Love as an NFT Strategy?” It didn’t go quite as he expected. We asked him what it was like to attend NFT.NYC, which this year was attended by 15,000 people from 20-23. June.
NFT.NYC has been called “The Super Bowl of NFTs” or a modern Woodstock. How was it?
Most NFT projects are based in the digital space: creators talk to other artists and followers mostly through platforms like Twitter and Discord.
So, attending a physical event: it seemed like the Super Bowl or Woodstock – the energy of having so many people focused on NFTs at once, and having many projects and creators with new things to reveal, and the opportunity to attend parties around Manhattan or seeing NFTs displayed around Times Square – it was pretty amazing.
What were the biggest trends or talking points?
Everyone was talking about Web3, the next generation of website development and usability. In the future, NFTs will have a greater role and more utility and more than just art or design collectibles. We will see many interesting non-visual NFTs, such as in the music industry.
NFT creators are not just artists or designers anymore. There are many opportunities for everyone.
Image via TaiternWhat were you talking about?
My talk was called: “Love as an NFT strategy? Create a collaborative culture that becomes your competitive advantage”.
There are many stories that took place behind the scenes. I finished my topic with the organizers. Then, the day I flew to New York, they emailed me that they would be elevating my show from an individual talk to a panel talk with two CEOs of NFT projects from the US on the main stage instead.
“NFTs seem to be the leading factor in the era of digital properties: a digital world where people can live their lives and have their own ‘communities’. This can be an alternative to centralization, but we need to ensure that is trust.”
I was at the airport in Bangkok when I saw the email; there was not much time to decide because I would be gone for 26 hours during the flight. So I answered “Yes”. No need for a deck anymore. I thought, “It’s just a bit of pressure since it’s my first experience of an unfamiliar place, language and culture. But … I’ll be fine.”
On the big day, my schedule was to be on stage at 4:05pm. At approximately 12:45 p.m., one of the panel members withdrew. Around 3 p.m., another panelist’s flight was delayed, so she couldn’t make it to Times Square either.
I had to prepare my own speech with one hour to spare! So I went on stage solo, with no preparation, no deck of cards, just a little notebook where I arranged my speech backstage.
How did your session go after all that?
In the end everything went well, the audience got my thoughts, they clapped after I finished and some of the audience followed me to talk more.
The key to “LOVE” as an NFT strategy is: You must be in love with your NFT project.
L – Long-term strategy, it’s not about rushing, but about sustainability
O – Optimization mindset, because everything moves and changes so quickly
V – Make your project have a “Vibe”
E – Experience is a great asset that you need to plan for.
Were there any NFT creators that caught your eye?
In the art room: GHXST, traditional drawings by Taiwanese artists. They had a private party and exhibition for their NFT holders (I hold some so I can join). I love this project because it is still 100% hand drawn among all the AI generative parts of other projects. Aside from art, they continue to expand their tools into areas like clothing and comics as well.
Ghxst 066 pic.twitter.com/rVN13DbEWL
— Ghxsts | NFT Collectibles (@Ghxsts) 14 August 2022
Doodles brought news of their expansion into animation production. I love this because they started with collectibles. It is a new way of operating production and financing.
Doodles 2 … coming soon. pic.twitter.com/c33BB0GLqP
— doodles (@doodles) 22 June 2022
In the tech space: STYLY launched their XR Asset Marketplace, a digital asset marketplace for not only 2D or 3D works, but also new experience assets. In the future, there are many opportunities for creators and creatives alike to find Experience Reality (XR) resources just as we use photo and video archives now.
Are NFTs Really Ushering in a New Era of Decentralization? Do they live up to the hype? What does the future hold?
People involved in NFTs are not so keen on decentralization, which is the utopian idea that NFTs and blockchain will democratize the world and avoid having to deal with the usual chains of command.
They focus on its utility and emotional value. Decentralization is a plus, but if centralization can help expand the value or utility of NFTs, collectors are still happy to buy them.
“NFT creators are not just artists or designers anymore. There are many opportunities for everyone.”
NFTs seem to be the leading factor in the era of digital properties: a digital world where people can live their lives and have their own “communities”. This can be an alternative to centralization, but we must ensure trust.
Now that you’ve been to NFT.NYC, how does Asia’s NFT scene compare: how far ahead/behind are we? What can the rest of the world learn from Thailand’s NFT community?
Since there is a new format, a new platform and a new generation involved in NFTs, the difference in space is no limit or condition for the success of NFT projects. Of course, some countries are not too open, like Thailand, ha, ha – we can’t even buy cryptocurrency with a credit card.
But my opinion is that Thailand’s NFT community – since we are just starting and still small – we are united with each other. It creates a great power to shine in the global market.
Watch Taitern’s ‘Flipped Face’ collection here, or check him out on TikTok.
@iamtaitern #THAIGHOST #NFT #NFTART
♬ Original Audio – Titipun Tubthong – Taitern NFT Talk
