By now, it goes without saying that web3 is the future – whether we like it or not.

Over the past few months, we’ve seen NFTs trickle into the mainstream, with plenty more people buying digital art and various cryptocurrency, and joining communities across the Internet.

But who’s taking it further than just digital pieces of art? Well, meet the team behind Antonym, who are defining what it means to be “Phygital.”

When I speak to the guys behind the brand, it is clear that they’ve been in this business for a while. With plenty of background in the cryptocurrency space, they all saw NFTs start gaining traction, and instantly new that the space needed a cool community that spoke to people outside the space, not just those already in it.

“We saw a need for really high-end goods and how that could attract a new audience in NFTs and with the authenticity that NFTs provide for these goods, and how it allows us to build a product,” the team explains.

When building and launching Antonym, they knew they needed to do it right. “Traditional fashion brands are a little hesitant to jump in with both feet into the NFT space because there’s so much that’s new, [and] there’s so much that’s not understood,” the team explains. “We’ve seen backlash when big companies come into the space, on the traditional web2 side and on the web3 side, we’ve seen both audiences reject some of these earlier entries into the space that weren’t quite done properly.”

And he’s right, there are still plenty of questions surrounding the space, as well as the authenticity behind brands taking the leap and creating a digital product. But with Antonym, the project has managed to catch the attention of those sitting on the sidelines.

If you’ve ever bought a designer toy – a BEARBRICK, a Janky from SuperPlastic, a KAWS figure – you’ll be captivated by the Antonym project, regardless of whether you’re web3 native or not.

The figure that the brand has built exists both in the physical world, as a real figure that you can see, touch, and play around with, as well as in NFT format on the blockchain. It is the perfect bridge between two worlds, and the perfect product to build a community around.

“We grew from scratch, we didn’t spend a penny on marketing,” the team emphasizes. “In a period of three months, we grew to almost 250,000 followers on Twitter, which for an NFT project is almost unprecedented growth.”

“We wanted to build a project with a significant runway that we had a real business to build [from] because businesses drive value and that’s what people care about. Some people care about high fashion. Some people care about return on investment. Some people care about art, but whatever your value is, we wanted to find a way to drive that for our original community.”

What Antonym does well is that they haven’t left the real world behind, rather the opposite. Just because we’re doing all this talking about the Metaverse and NFTs, cryptocurrency, and the blockchain, doesn’t mean that we’re ready to leave the physical world behind just yet.

After launching the Genesis Project, which was a huge success, Antonym is now rolling out the physical models of the digital art.

“We’re wanting to get these out to people because we know once they have their hands on this whole concept, the concept of “phygital” becomes so real.” There are real ways to tie into the blockchain, with some of this connected technology, and all these other cool things.”

"We're really looking forward to just working with and identifying more up-and-coming talent and giving them a platform to be able to showcase their work through Antonym."

Antonym is only just getting started, and it is clear that as a project, it will continue to infiltrate industries including fashion and design, with plenty of collaborations and partnerships waiting down the line.

"There are so many cool things that we would not be at Liberty to disclose right now that are, that are so exciting for us. Once they're, closed and ready, there'll be just incredible accelerants to this vision and how quickly we can execute on some of these collaborations, and things like that."

If you want to stay updated with everything Antonym, the Discord community is the best place for all news, as well as Twitter and Instagram.