Welcome to 1687, a members-only NFT club for icons, influencers, and entrepreneurs.
What is 1687?
1687 is an NFT community for an exclusive group of collectors to buy, sell, trade, collect, and collaborate on collections of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Who Founded 1687?
1687 was founded by a team of female entrepreneurs with deep connections in the entertainment, music, professional sports, and technology industries.
The women behind 1687 were looking for ways to use blockchain technology and WEB3 to bring diversity and opportunity to the tech industry. 1687 collaborates with creators and brands to help support and produce projects that help advance causes related to civil rights, social equality, and peace.
Melissa Forde is a celebrity photographer, artist, entrepreneur, fashionista, and icon with ties to the music and fashion industries.
Natasha Bell is an entrepreneur, stylist, and influencer with ties to the sporting and entertainment industries.
Michelle Ryan is a social good entrepreneur with ties to the music and tech industries.
Jill Briggs is an entrepreneur and stylist with experience in the art, fashion, beauty, and tech industries.
The co-founders of 1687 teamed up with a female-led group of artists to bring to life their vision of a woman-owned NFT community that uses art and technology to make an impact on the world around them.
What is the Meaning of ‘1687’?
1687 co-founder Melissa Forde was born in Barbados, where the 3-month long Crop Over Festival is celebrated every year.
One of the oldest festivals in the Western Hemisphere, the Crop Over Festival was established in 1687 as a way to celebrate the end of the crop season. After being discontinued in the 1940s after WWII, the festival was reborn in 1974.
Today, Crop Over is a huge celebration for Barbados, frequented by celebrities and visitors from all over the world.
Who can Access the 1687 Club?
The 1687 club can only be accessed by members. The club will issue a total of 1,687 memberships in the form of NFTs. Possession of a membership token equates to possession of a key to the club.
While every 1687 member must own one token to access the club and its benefits (more on this in a bit), members were also welcome to purchase more than one token. This means that, while there are 1,687 total possible memberships to the club, the actual number of members is fewer than that.
“The club is intentionally small,” says co-founder Michelle Ryan. “Our intent with 1687 is to bring together people with an interest in creating amazing collaborations and using blockchain technology in innovative new ways.
We wanted to bring together entrepreneurs and icons who had already used their creativity to build brands and experiences, and then give them this virtual playground to do some really cool stuff.”
How Do You Join 1687?
1687 released its first minting of 1,687 membership tokens in early 2022.
Those membership tokens can be re-sold, transferring membership to new members. However, the total number of memberships will never exceed 1,687.
What are the Benefits of 1687 Membership?
Unlike many community NFT projects whose sole purpose is to sell out a collection of generative art as quickly as possible, 1687 had a different intent for its members.
“We really wanted to bring together these creators and visionaries and give them a place to let their imaginations go wild,” says Ryan.
The first opportunity for club members to express their creativity was in their initial NFT avatar. Because these NFTs are designed to be the “key to the club,” Bell, Forde, and Ryan worked with a team of web app developers to create a custom NFT builder. The builder allows members to customize and personalize the NFTs that so often are used by community NFT members as PFP (profile pics) on Twitter and other social media platforms.
Unlike many other character-based NFT collections that use an algorithm to generate random combinations of attributes, resulting in a one-of-a-kind yet completely random avatar, the 1687 builder uses an algorithm for a different purpose:
to put avatar creation into the hands (or paws) of the club members.
The women behind 1687 also wanted to create opportunities for NFT collecting and collaborations for its members.
In February 2022, 1687 will airdrop limited-edition tokens to its members. Club members will then have the opportunity to collect more of this special series.
1687 is also providing a space for club members to come together and collaborate on future collections and projects, bringing together icons, entrepreneurs, and influencers from the entertainment, music, sporting, art, video, and tech industries to create memorable collections for club members, as well as the general public.
Welcome to 1687.
Follow @1687club on Twitter for more information about upcoming collections, series, and collaborations from our members.