The Startup Voyage - Web3 Business Growth
The Startup Journey podcast is dedicated to spotlighting the journeys and insights of Web2 and Web3 tech founders and investors.
Guests of The Startup Voyage podcast join a world of industry leaders, startup visionaries, and seasoned investors who share valuable lessons, stories, and advice to inspire and empower a global community of tech founders.
We take a journalistic / reality show concept to ignite conversations that empower the next generation of disruptors.
Join us as we dive deep into the dynamic world of technology, unraveling success stories, industry trends, and game-changing innovations.
The Startup Voyage - Web3 Business Growth
Reimagining Collectibles: ArToys and the Power of Community
This AMA episode, co-produced with WOW Summit, with Ilya Ustnikov of ArToys, the ultimate platform uniting designers, brands, and collectors in the designer toy industry.
- Discover how ArToys leverages Web3 technology to change the world of collectible toys, offering true ownership, enhanced security, and a vibrant global community.
- Understand their value proposition, including daily surprises, exclusive offers, and the innovative categorization of collectibles from common to mythical.
- Learn how ArToys is fostering community engagement, decentralization, and transparency in the designer toy market.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to ChicoRoco and Art Toys
06:30 ChicoRoco's Transition to Art Toys
08:32 Current Projects and Features
10:55 Opportunities for Artists in the Digital Art Space
14:51 Desirability of Digital Toys for Kids
16:46 Challenges in Creating and Promoting Art Toys
19:24 Integration of Chinese Payment Methods
21:42 Expanding Community and Collaborations
23:26 Opportunities for Artists in Metaverses
25:28 Role of the Community in Development and Rebranding
27:54 Building a Community as an Artist
29:22 Emerging Trends in the Digital Art World
32:49 Physical vs Digital Collectibles
35:55 Opportunities for Artists in the Web3 World
38:30 Recommended Events and Countries for Artists
40:18 Excitement for AR Toys and Conclusion
ABOUT
Uniting Designers, Brands, and Collectors: ArToys aims to bring together various stakeholders in the designer toy industry. By creating a unified platform, it simplifies interactions and transactions between designers, brands, and collectors, enhancing the overall community experience.
Daily Surprises and Engagement: The platform offers daily updates and surprises, keeping users engaged and excited about new and rare collectibles. This frequent content refreshment helps maintain high user engagement and loyalty.
Community Building: ArToys encourages users to join a global community, primarily through Telegram, fostering a sense of belonging and collaboration among toy enthusiasts.
Categorization of Collectibles: By categorizing toys based on rarity from common to mythical, ArToys makes it easier for collectors to understand the value and scarcity of different items, aiding in informed decision-making and enhancing the collecting experience.
Special Offers and Events: The platform provides exclusive offers and events, adding value for users by giving them access to unique opportunities.
In summary, ArToys leverages the principles of Web3 to provide a secure, engaging, and community-driven platform for designer toy collectors, enhancing their experience through decentralized ownership, frequent updates, and a vibrant global community.
The Startup Voyage Podcast is ranked top #15 Web3 podcast show compared to 45 others per Feedspot (https://podcasts.feedspot.com/web3_podcasts)
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About:
The Startup Journey podcast is dedicated to spotlighting the journeys and insights of tech founders and investors shaping Web3. Guests of The Startup Voyage podcast join a world of industry leaders, startup visionaries, and seasoned investors who share valuable lessons, stories, and advice to inspire and empower a global community of tech founders.
We take a journalistic / reality show concept to ignite conversations that empower the next generation of disruptors. Join us as we dive deep into the dynamic world of technology, unraveling success stories, industry trends, and game-changing innovations.
Gio (00:00.)
join it or we just go with the reverse side. All right, let's do the last try if not we just go.
Arthur Lee (00:01.017)
Oh, we can try. Let me try again. Yeah. All right. It seems like it's working now. So let me.
Gio (00:20.814)
Okay.
ArToys - Ilya (00:39.669)
So, I'm in the room.
ArToys - Ilya (00:55.437)
But I'm not an elephant.
Arthur Lee (01:29.429)
you
ArToys - Ilya (01:29.837)
you
Arthur Lee (01:33.013)
so
Gio (01:34.996)
Thank you.
Gio (02:05.102)
Okay.
ArToys - Ilya (02:24.757)
whatever current they're waiting for.
Arthur Lee (02:41.589)
All right, I think we're gonna go back to Riverside. Come on, man, let's just get it going.
Gio (02:44.686)
Yeah, all right.
ArToys - Ilya (02:46.987)
Yeah.
Gio (02:49.198)
just do it.
Arthur Lee (02:52.117)
So I really apologize for this. I know what's happening on the other guy's side, but.
Gio (03:03.758)
So you want to do like a one, two, three before we start like because I see it's recording but it's definitely going to be cut.
Arthur Lee (03:12.309)
Oh yeah, yeah, I'll edit it, don't worry. I'll edit it, just get on with it. All right. Oh.
Gio (03:21.024)
All right, let's start now.
Arthur Lee (03:22.677)
Oh wait, I think...
Arthur Lee (03:28.085)
the video.
Gio (03:39.438)
No. Today is a cursed day, man. Everything that can go wrong, goes wrong.
Arthur Lee (03:44.723)
Hey, uh...
Gio (03:53.678)
I mean, even if you record it, imagine the quality of his picture, what it's going to be. Because even now in our riverside, Ilya's picture looks blurry.
Arthur Lee (04:08.541)
Yeah.
Arthur Lee (04:14.773)
So actually, you shouldn't worry about that. And I'll tell you why I think he's joined.
Is it itinerary problem?
ArToys - Ilya (04:28.27)
I don't know what was the problem. I just... I don't know. So yeah.
Arthur Lee (04:36.179)
OK, well, look, we will try it here. We won't forget spaces, and we'll just record here. And yeah, just let you know, Gio, this website actually records on your laptop first and then uploads it to the cloud. So even though it may look pixelated on here or whatever, it'll be in the cloud but very smooth. Yeah. Yeah.
ArToys - Ilya (04:44.236)
Okay.
Gio (04:54.014)
Makes sense.
Gio (05:02.802)
Great.
ArToys - Ilya (05:05.422)
Okay, that's cool.
Arthur Lee (05:07.061)
So apologize for the technical difficulties. We'll still run this in about 45 minutes or 40 minutes. And yeah, you can start.
Gio (05:17.058)
All right. Welcome everyone for another series of, sorry, starting with. Sorry. All right. Once again, welcome everyone for another series of WOW Summit Talks. And today we have Ilya Ustinkov, the Head of Digital Marketing in ChikoRoko.
Arthur Lee (05:23.957)
You
Arthur Lee (05:28.125)
That's right. Right.
Gio (05:43.694)
And today with you is me, Gio, the marketing lead of UDC Consulting, and Arthur G Lee himself, host of the Startup Voyage podcast and the Head of Content for WOW Summit. So Ilya represents ChikoRoko, a renowned collection that's powered by our toys. It serves as the perfect bridge between physical and digital collecting, offering effortless access, daily surprises, and captivating social features. And me personally, I'm a great
fan of Chiko Roko I've been with you guys for several years already. I'm really a big fan of all these little toys and collections you made. And this is every time I feel a little bit down in Web3 space and our space, I always go to Chiko Roko website and just, you know, it brings me so much, you know, great emotions. So can you tell us a little bit about Chiko Roko from your perspective, like what you guys working on right now?
ArToys - Ilya (06:22.574)
for those who do not know.
ArToys - Ilya (06:44.93)
So, if you're still thinking that we're still ChikoRoko, I'll need to tell a lot. So, in fact, in November, yeah, in November, we presented a new platform. It's called Art Toys. In fact, for us, the main idea was that we want to enlarge our possibilities because when we had a ChikoRoko project,
Arthur Lee (06:55.253)
You
ArToys - Ilya (07:13.966)
had the main idea that we have two forms of a rabbit and a hedgehog, and we implemented some designer toys using these two figures. But we wanted to do more. We wanted to create something new and so on. So we decided to change to another platform called Art Toys. So basically ChikoRoko...
remained one of the, like we called, mega collection, one of the mega collections on our platform. And there are still a lot of ChikoRoko toys on our toys platform. But also there are some really new and engaging toys, like for people who really wanted this. So yeah. Currently we are working on
Arthur Lee (07:53.063)
you
Arthur Lee (08:10.005)
you
ArToys - Ilya (08:12.398)
a lot of things. So we presented a roadmap a few days ago, like spoiled a lot of things we're going to introduce in the nearest future. But yeah, that was the idea. So right now we're working on like our own app, we enhance our platform, add some new features, creating some really
who knew toys and also today we will announce that we have implemented Chinese payment methods. Just I thought it may be kind of interesting for some people who listen probably to this AMS session. So yeah, now we have WeChat Pay, Ali Pay and Union Pay.
Yeah, so just like a small announcement. So yeah, I think we can move on to our main topic here, yeah?
Arthur Lee (09:21.365)
Yeah, we're mainly going to talk about the opportunities for artists in this space. Yeah. So I guess that's why we were very curious on what was new going on in what you were doing with our art toys. And I guess, you know, you in this space, we actually, for myself, we had interviewed this Sotheby's, you know, the oldest auction house in the world.
and they're very into using NFTs to authenticate or actually transfer ownership to digital art and authenticate it. And it's kind of exposed a lot of new people in the digital art space to create new things, but outside of, I guess, this NFT space and whatnot. But what do you see as some of the main...
opportunities for artists these days because lots of people are now using AI to generate art, digital art. And then you can argue like, I guess, you know, the form expression of art, the mediums are so much wider today. So what do you see as a trend in this space?
ArToys - Ilya (10:35.424)
So you mentioned AI and I think it's really a huge trend nowadays and I can even say that we're using AI. So we use both Dali and Mid Journey. Yeah, so we generate some like reference ideas for our toys, for some of our toys because these things really provide
Arthur Lee (10:39.381)
Yeah.
Arthur Lee (10:50.449)
Right. Right.
ArToys - Ilya (11:05.55)
huge opportunities for everyone. It makes even, I can say that, AI makes art more accessible to everyone. But I think we should implement the definition of AI artist, because if you can really create something really, really cool using AI, something really unique and cool, that's wow. Because...
Arthur Lee (11:14.803)
Hmm.
ArToys - Ilya (11:33.742)
You know how to write proper prompts and so on and so on. And you know how to work with this. So that's why I'm sure that AI is good for every artist and for just like for everyone. But what... Yeah, and also I think it's a current trend.
Arthur Lee (11:41.589)
Yeah, yeah.
ArToys - Ilya (12:03.182)
because AI is everywhere around us right now. So, and here too. So I think, yeah, it will be trend for several years.
Arthur Lee (12:08.239)
Right.
Arthur Lee (12:18.325)
Right, right. But doesn't devalue, I guess, the creativity of an artist? Like, for example, I've seen some artists be looking at AI -generated art and say, well, that's not real art. They didn't have the talent to create that. And another aspect of it, if you're an artist and you have a specific look or, let's say, type of design in how you create artwork,
ArToys - Ilya (12:21.134)
you
Arthur Lee (12:46.389)
It sounds like there might be a possibility that you can actually capture that and like go into mid journey, right? And actually license, I guess, your style. Is that possible, you think? Do you think that will happen?
ArToys - Ilya (13:00.93)
Yeah, I think why not? Because I'm not sure if the technology will work very good right now, but I think everything is possible in the nearest future. So yeah. Yeah, and one thing you mentioned...
Arthur Lee (13:03.827)
Yeah.
Arthur Lee (13:12.917)
Yeah.
Arthur Lee (13:18.293)
Right, right.
ArToys - Ilya (13:23.822)
that like a person who created something through AI doesn't have a talent and so on. But in fact, when people buy some art, do they really always pay for the talent of an artist? So like basically people pay for like, for the thing they see. So if they like some painting or some art, they pay for this art, not for the artist.
Arthur Lee (13:29.109)
Yeah.
Arthur Lee (13:51.519)
Right, right, right. Okay, that totally makes sense, right? Because it's just like AI is the tool. It's no different than a paint palette and a canvas in that they create something, they're using this tool and you still need to understand how to use the tool. Yeah. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah. Okay, that's for sure. So that's one area where artists can...
ArToys - Ilya (14:04.462)
Yeah, it's like a new brush in Photoshop.
Arthur Lee (14:17.493)
I guess get into the space. I'm sure a lot of schools now and any artists going into world, that medium, that tool itself must be very popular to use in the scope of work.
Gio (14:33.11)
Actually speaking about digital art, how do you think your digital toys will they become a desirable gift for kids in the nearest future? Because like, you know, kids like, you know, boys like cars, you know, girls like dolls in general. But how do you think will the digital toys will become desirable for kids?
ArToys - Ilya (14:55.704)
Actually, here I need to mention one interesting fact that the figures of Hedgehog and Rabbit, they are not like kind of originally created by ChikoRoko. It is characters from children movie called Kikoriki, which was originated from
from so it's like our founder, Ilya Popov.
Gio (15:31.986)
Okay.
ArToys - Ilya (15:32.366)
partially he created these cartoons. So yeah. And what about current situation about art toys and Chikoroku? I think no, because we analyzed our audience lately and we don't see that children are really interested in this sphere. So maybe if we...
try to make some cartoons with them and so on, something like this. Maybe yeah, maybe the children will like it, but it's not really our target audience for now.
Gio (16:16.086)
Okay, and actually speaking about creating the product and promoting it, in your field, what challenges do you face when...
know, such a thing as a art, you know, marketplace and how do you overcome this challenge.
ArToys - Ilya (16:37.756)
I'll start from the last question. We really face a lot of issues concerning both marketing and implementing new art on our platform, because we have our own artists. We can create like toys,
every day. That's not really a problem for us. But of course we want artists to come to us and use our platform. And first we thought like, okay, we have a platform. Why don't they come here? Why don't they sell their toys here? And we started to implement different features to make
our marketplace and our platform more convenient for artists, not for users, but for users too, I mean, but for artists too. So currently we are working on the personal space for artists. So each artist will have a personal space where he'll be able to start his own drop and so on. So there are a lot of features, I can't spoil all of them, sorry, but yeah.
It's a very convenient way for any artist to start selling their digital toys. Then we implemented, for example, Rubies, the thing that everyone really wanted. So Ruby is like a second currency on our platform. We have gold and we have Rubies. So Rubies is like a stable coin.
Arthur Lee (18:25.461)
Next.
ArToys - Ilya (18:28.91)
So its exchange rate is always fixed from like one ruby is one dollar. So yeah, and of course, this currency is withdrawable. Gold isn't withdrawable. So yeah, and assets can now earn like money on the drops and on the share on the it's not like a revenue share. It's a
When people resell their toys we take a 10 % commission and 5 % goes to artists and 5 % goes to us as a platform So yeah, so we're just making our platform more convenient for everyone. Yeah
Gio (19:03.422)
Thank you.
Arthur Lee (19:06.615)
Hmm.
Gio (19:19.372)
That's great.
Arthur Lee (19:19.953)
Can you tell me some of this? So I'm at your platform right now, and you said you hooked up with different payment platforms, WeChat. I think WeChat and Alipay. Was it difficult to onboard those, or you just used the payment service somehow? Because those are a little bit different to integrate with. Yeah, I'd love to hear it.
ArToys - Ilya (19:26.298)
you
ArToys - Ilya (19:40.506)
I can tell you a story. Yeah, so once upon a time our colleague Sergey came to us and said like, guys, we need to implement Chinese payment methods. It is a nice idea. Yeah, like, yeah, that's really nice idea. And he said like, oh, we have a solution. It's called Ni Hao Pay. Oh, okay, Ni Hao Pay.
And after that we were talking to their support for one month just to implement Ni Hao Pei. Because in fact the problem was in communication. Because they don't know English and they were like, as I think, how did that work? They were typing their text in Chinese.
Arthur Lee (20:31.477)
You
ArToys - Ilya (20:34.938)
and putting it in some chat GPTU or maybe even Google Translate and then send it to the mail to us. So yeah, we found a girl from like she's from our moderators. She's and she knows Chinese. So yeah, she helped us. She knows both Chinese and English. So yeah, she really helped us. So yeah.
Arthur Lee (20:35.005)
Yes.
Hehehehehe
Arthur Lee (20:51.797)
Yeah.
Arthur Lee (20:59.605)
Great. Ni hao Pei.
ArToys - Ilya (21:03.866)
The story took a little bit longer than we expected. I mean, the implementation of Chinese payment methods. Yeah.
Arthur Lee (21:09.077)
Hehehehe
Arthur Lee (21:13.223)
So does that mean your platform or you've got a strong customer base coming in from Mainland China? Or I mean, yeah.
ArToys - Ilya (21:23.002)
Not really a huge community but we think we can expand there because yeah, because like the whole Asia, let's take it like this a lot of countries and places where people really like designer toys and Like it's a nice place to promote for us
Arthur Lee (21:27.923)
Mm -mm.
Right.
Arthur Lee (21:52.277)
Right, right. I think so. I think all of Asia, if you think about the different culturally and the attachment to anime and toys in itself, it's quite part of the growing up process, right? Where it's either Ultraman, if you're in Hong Kong, and China is probably like other different Harold figurines or whatnot. So along with the cutesy ones, which, you know, I don't really follow, but.
ArToys - Ilya (22:09.594)
Yeah.
ArToys - Ilya (22:22.202)
Oh, she's she's she's.
Arthur Lee (22:25.373)
Yeah, so how do you think I guess the digital collectibles in itself I guess if you look in a gaming world in itself, and this is sort of like, you know part of maybe Opportunities for artists, right? So you're in a gaming you create or you're somewhere creating digital collectibles for a metaverse or a game and then those Become collectibles and trade it on some platform
Do you think that will continue because a lot of these gaming platforms are play to earn. Now it's kind of like play and own in these gaming metaverses. What do you think? Where do you think it'll go?
ArToys - Ilya (23:07.13)
So we had an experience of implementing our toys into metaverses We didn't have experience into implementing our toys into games But in fact we're creating a game now, so yeah But yeah, what about metaverses?
Gio (23:12.252)
Thank you.
Arthur Lee (23:27.477)
Nice.
ArToys - Ilya (23:32.698)
I used to play in some metaverse in the Central land, I don't remember the name, if really. But that's kinda interesting, when you can both play with this character and then own... I don't wanna say own the character, because it sounds kinda weird.
So, just on the digital copy of this character.
So yeah. And as for the artists, I think the whole idea of metaverses is very good for any artist because if you're creating digital art, it's better to show it digitally too. And metaverses is the best way to do this.
Arthur Lee (24:18.773)
Yeah.
Arthur Lee (24:30.941)
Right, right, okay.
Gio (24:33.556)
Yeah, I have a question for you regarding your community. You as a project has overcome such a long way already, you know, building, creating, rebranding, and during all this path, you were building community around yourself. So how would you say what was the role of the community itself in your development? And my second question right away, how did your community respond to your rebranding and, you know,
reimagining and re -understanding yourselves.
ArToys - Ilya (25:09.152)
Okay, what about the first question? So our community plays like a crucial role in the life of our project because everything that we do, we have a factor of community. So we always need to think about them because we know that these guys are really important for us.
So, yeah, I can just say that they really play a crucial role. And when we implement some maybe new features or we plan some ideas, so we really look at the ideas of our community and at what they really want. So, regarding the second question.
about our branding. So it was a really hard time because we tried to explain everything in the most understandable way. But some group of people just didn't understand what happened. Some group of people was really disappointed because like they weren't ready for something new.
But oh no, most people are now happy with the new platform, with the new toys, with the new abilities. So yeah, we just needed to wait for some time and explain everyone. But just yesterday I answered the comment on Twitter. The guy was writing like, uh.
Arthur Lee (26:54.697)
you
ArToys - Ilya (27:05.408)
Oh, Chikoroku was better when they were on their own. It's a pity they were sold to art toys. But bro, we're one company. We just rebranded. Okay. So yeah.
Arthur Lee (27:11.733)
Oh my god, yeah. Okay, so do you think with a community that, you know, there are a lot of options.
Gio (27:21.676)
Hehehe
Arthur Lee (27:36.085)
opportunities for artists to get into the space and to find opportunities, maybe is it good for them to actually discover new communities and introduce themselves and kind of attach themselves to the product project to better understand it and seeing potentially how they can participate as an artist? Is that a good way to go?
ArToys - Ilya (27:38.474)
Yeah, of course. Yeah, of course and I think that every artist should create like their own community and I can say it
We just don't see this as like this We don't see it as a number of followers on I don't Twitter for example, sorry X Twitter. Yeah but every artist has its own Community the same for example, let's take Vincent Van Gogh. He has his own community He has a lot of fans. But of course he does he has zero subs on Twitter
Gio (28:05.266)
Thanks for watching.
Arthur Lee (28:12.443)
Hmm Hmm
ArToys - Ilya (28:34.746)
because like that would be kind of strange so yeah and I think that every artist needs to create a community of maybe even not of their fans but like of like -minded people or like -minded artists and so on and such platforms like for example our platforms
Arthur Lee (28:45.665)
Yeah. Right. Hmm.
Gio (28:46.636)
you
ArToys - Ilya (29:03.172)
it's a nice way to do this because you can come to us as an artist and say like hey I want to show for my toy or my art and so on and we'll do this for you so that's like one of the key ideas of our project so yeah
Arthur Lee (29:13.553)
Also, it's really easy. So our artists can come straight to you and talk directly to you and share the idea they have or share their toy. And then basically, you would collaborate together. Yeah. Yeah.
ArToys - Ilya (29:33.53)
Yeah, yeah, but not exactly to me, to our art curator, Daria. Yeah, but yeah, that's possible. Of course, there are some restrictions. Yeah, I have an example. We have an artist whose works we don't accept because he created like R2 -D2 from Star Wars.
Arthur Lee (29:42.645)
right right yeah yeah yeah yeah
ArToys - Ilya (30:02.238)
And some Starship from Star Wars. Of course, we can't use that because Like it's under license and we tried to like tell him that no, sorry we we can't do this We like your voice. They look like gorgeous, but sorry we can't do this. You can maybe change something so it doesn't look like RTD2 and then we'll
Arthur Lee (30:11.861)
Hehehe.
ArToys - Ilya (30:31.802)
do this, but no. Yeah.
Arthur Lee (30:33.173)
Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense because it... yeah.
Gio (30:35.18)
Is it maybe in your plans to maybe collaborate with some brands where you can basically further enhance the production, let's say Star Wars and maybe Lord of the Rings. Is it even possible in this field and to have any, maybe not even plans, but maybe fantasy?
Arthur Lee (30:52.469)
Okay.
ArToys - Ilya (31:00.522)
Yeah, of course. In fact, our business department, our business development department is working hard on this, because I always see like, we need to make a new presentation, we need to make a new presentation for like different companies. So yeah, the process is going on. So we recently implemented a new mechanic for partners. And I can spoil.
Gio (31:00.606)
Bye.
ArToys - Ilya (31:29.4)
that on the next week, probably on Monday, we're going to start the first like, button's drop with one kind of famous digital brand. And in some time, we'll have a really huge collaboration with a really popular brand.
Gio (31:30.846)
So.
ArToys - Ilya (31:58.81)
So it's not even a fantasy, it's real life. Yeah, but I can't spoil the name of the company, but it has a yellow circle logo. Let it be so. Yeah.
Arthur Lee (32:09.647)
Hahaha.
Arthur Lee (32:17.117)
Yellow circle logo. I'm gonna go search for yellow circle logos. Okay, all right.
Gio (32:19.104)
He he he he he he he he he he
Hehehehe
ArToys - Ilya (32:27.818)
So yeah.
Arthur Lee (32:31.957)
All right, so I think we were talking about before you were saying that, so artists that create their own community, I just wanna go back to that because I believe it's almost if you look at it as a solopreneur, right? It's their own business, they're gonna create the community, they're gonna market the products. And I believe that your platform, your marketplace is actually a solution.
where they don't have to do all the marketing, right? Because like in a very traditional art world, like if you're a painter, you need to go to a gallery, convince them to show, you know, create a show, showcase of your art pieces. And then the gallery will curate the audience, right? Invite all these people to come and maybe someone will buy. And obviously they make commissions on the, whatever is sold. But I think that's always been the, for...
just in general, artists just want to focus on creating the art, but creating community maybe a little bit because they're more than happy to connect with other artists, but actually to market, to sell your product, to get the awareness and visibility. I mean, are there other avenues for people besides like your marketplace? Like what do people do? What do these new artists do to get seen and discovered?
Gio (33:35.27)
Thank you.
ArToys - Ilya (33:38.47)
So as I see they are firstly they try to start working on their social medias and social media presence But it's kind of hard because Like a lot of artists nowadays and
Arthur Lee (33:52.225)
Hmm.
Gio (33:55.564)
Okay.
ArToys - Ilya (34:04.87)
Yeah, that may be kind of hard for you to grow through social medias. Then they try to use some... It's not like social media, but like social platforms. Like Behance and something near this. And only after like 33 steps of different difficulties...
People come to Web3 world and see like, oh, I can put something in like metaverse. Wow, and many people will see this. Oh my God. So yeah. So really, I think that Web3 gives a lot of opportunities, even not only for the artists, like for everyone to show off and...
Arthur Lee (34:34.709)
you
Arthur Lee (34:41.781)
Right. Yeah.
ArToys - Ilya (35:01.954)
like to gain some, you know, gain some community. So yeah, I see that, I think that more artists which tries to gain some popularity nowadays should faster come to Web3 World.
Arthur Lee (35:09.461)
Right, right, right, right, okay. I guess do you have any, do you see any emerging trends, I guess, in the art world, digital art world? Let's talk about digital art.
Gio (35:30.744)
Okay.
Arthur Lee (35:37.621)
And or maybe if you think about it, you're doing sort of the physical to digital. Do you think people focus more on creating or fidgeting? I guess that's the terminology fidgeting. I would imagine, right? Do you imagine that will continue to grow quite big, right? Outside of just being purely digital.
ArToys - Ilya (35:45.202)
Hmm.
ArToys - Ilya (35:49.546)
Yeah, that's a nice word I like it too, yeah You
ArToys - Ilya (36:02.074)
Yeah, I think yes, because like we're still people and we're still living in a real world. And of course, it's nice to have something in your phone. But sometimes you really want to have something, something physical. Like, for example, I have my watch here and I don't really look at look for the time on them. It's just...
Arthur Lee (36:08.285)
Nice.
Gio (36:16.396)
.
ArToys - Ilya (36:31.682)
Because I have it like on my laptop on my phone But I just like them because why not? So it's the same about like some designer toys for example You can put it in your flat for example just We have a guy who bought remember three or kind of toys
Arthur Lee (36:38.533)
Yeah. Whoops. I think he froze up. My goodness. Yeah.
Gio (36:46.028)
Yeah. Okay, okay, here's a bit.
ArToys - Ilya (36:59.066)
just to put them into his flat on his shelves. So I'm still... I'm here. Oh, I see. Okay, so just I was telling that we have a story. So one guy just bought four physical toys, but kind of big toys.
Arthur Lee (37:07.541)
Yep. Yeah, you kind of froze for a bit. Yeah. You're there.
ArToys - Ilya (37:25.402)
because he's now repairing his flat and he wants to put them into his new flat, like on the shelves, so just as a design thing. So yeah, of course, digital is cool because it's our future, but physical is cool too. So yeah.
Arthur Lee (37:53.077)
Definitely, definitely, I agree with that.
Well, I mean, I guess for artists out there, if you're trying to enter the Web3 world, where would you recommend or advise them to go meet in person? What type of events? What countries should they target? What do you think?
ArToys - Ilya (38:10.59)
Hmm... Yes! Hmm... Maybe Hong Kong! Oh no... Hmm... Maybe WOW Summit! So...
Arthur Lee (38:16.533)
That's a good one, right?
Arthur Lee (38:22.165)
There we go! Yes, it is a well -summed.
Gio (38:22.392)
Nice.
ArToys - Ilya (38:36.292)
Now I see a trend that a lot of events are coming up in United Arab Emirates. In fact, a lot of them, really. And in Asian countries. So the same Hong Kong, for example. I know that we were participating in the Toy So.
Arthur Lee (38:42.229)
Yeah.
Arthur Lee (38:53.653)
Yeah, yeah.
ArToys - Ilya (39:05.882)
as I remember some time ago and one more I can't remember its name so yeah and it was in Hong Kong too yeah so I think a lot of events are coming up in like these two places and it's nice place to visit a lot of really cool artists and meet really new people and really cool new people
Arthur Lee (39:05.991)
Okay.
Gio (39:28.932)
Thank you.
Arthur Lee (39:31.573)
Right, right, right. You have to see. Great, great. Well, I mean, hey, I want to thank you for just joining our show. We wanted to catch up with you, get a better understanding of what's going on with our toys. And don't know, Gio, do you have any last minute questions?
ArToys - Ilya (39:35.386)
So yeah, guys, come to our summit. You'll meet a lot of people there.
Gio (39:38.636)
Thank you.
Gio (40:00.172)
Well, it's not necessarily a question. It's just I wanted to add that I'm really excited to explore AR toys now because I was saying some, you know, praising words about Chukoroko and I missed your rebranding guys, unfortunately. And I just definitely want to go and check out your toys, you know, to see what's up. And I'm definitely excited about this, you know, what is going on now. Like the...
Arthur Lee (40:13.653)
Hehehehe
Gio (40:27.692)
We are entering such a stage where we reshape the form and formula of delivering some toys, digital pieces and real ones. And I think you guys at AR Toys doing a great job and I'm really excited. And yeah, thank you for coming. Yeah, I wish you guys all the best and definitely gonna look for coping something on AR Toys.
ArToys - Ilya (40:39.724)
you
ArToys - Ilya (40:44.09)
you
ArToys - Ilya (40:56.89)
Cool, cool. Thank you, that was really interesting and I shared a lot of information with you. So yeah, thank you.
Arthur Lee (40:57.717)
Excellent.
Arthur Lee (41:05.333)
want to share your Ni Hao story to other people. All right. All right, guys. We'll just end the recording here. And yeah, so just let it sit.
Gio (41:09.996)
Hehehehe.
ArToys - Ilya (41:10.49)
Hahaha
ArToys - Ilya (41:15.53)
Yeah.
Gio (41:18.764)
Yep.