In our latest episode of Behind The Drop, we spoke with rapper, singer, and songwriter iann dior about his debut NFT project: the iann dior: 1212 collection. Launched in partnership with green NFT platform OneOf in June 2022, the collection consisted of 1,212 animated NFT avatars depicting the Sick and Tired singer in various interpretations, adapted to resemble Tim Burton’s take on claymation.

Speaking on the drop in an interview with nft now, dior stated that the collection was a way for him to “make art and express [his] different emotions.” But why claymation? Styling himself as a “big fan” of the medium, the collection’s genesis can be traced back to one fateful day when the young artist was idly scrolling through Instagram. Popping up on his feed was a piece of fan art by digital artist Kid Ondrej depicting him as a claymation character.

Following this discovery, dior — who had recently been exploring the creation of an NFT collection to better engage with his fans — flew out to Prague to meet Ondrej, and work started immediately on what would later become the 1212 collection. “It’s really just another way for me to interact with my fans. Free concert tickets, free merch, [and] experiences that I can give to my fans by just buying one of the NFTs. For me, it wasn’t about the money, it was more for the experience for my fans,” dior said.

OneOf’s involvement was also key in bringing dior’s debut NFT project to fruition. “I chose to work with OneOf because, for one, the gas fees were a lot lower for artists. [During] the whole process from beginning to end, they held our hands the whole time,” dior said. With the successful release of the 1212 collection, dior hopes to have found a way to engage more directly with fans — even those who haven’t had the opportunity to join him on his latest tour. The singer also launched the collection around the same time as his single Live Fast Die Numb.

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