How to create an art platform based on blockchain technology

Rareart.io is a blockchain-based platform for digital artists, protecting authorship and giving creators the opportunity to monetize their work. It was featured in Explore — a curated selection of inspiring projects created with Readymag. Kevin Trinh, one of its founders, told us about the project’s mission and how Readymag fits in.

The idea behind the project is to give digital artists a chance to protect their work and exercise control over its distribution. We also allow artists to sell digital art using the same technology — artwork can be purchased with just a credit card.

It works like this: first, the artist uploads an art file — we then put it on to the decentralized network, called IPFS. The network is more or less similar to BitTorrent in how file parts are shared across anonymous computers. IPFS also automatically protects the copyright — blockchain technology doesn’t allow an image to be uploaded to the network twice.

While the file is being uploaded, a unique file name (“a hash”) is attributed to it. Then we put together a so-called art token, containing a hash as well as an input from the artist — their name, the title, a description of the work, and the number of owners it can have. The art token is basically a certificate of authenticity. This way you can “own” a part of the digital artwork, and both the provenance data and the creator’s information are strongly protected.

Now, as our project is at an early stage, any artist can just fill out an application form, upload their work, and write a proper description. The only thing we check is that the person uploading the work is the original creator. Still, we plan to promote artists that create in-demand work and who engage with their audience — that’s our way of curating.

The foundation of the project is the marketplace for digital art described above, but we’re also interested in establishing a community, where fans receive news about the artists, creators learn about one another, and so on. We’re actively working to build connections and trust, both online and off — by contacting galleries and organizing meetups, for example. This part of the project is accessible via profiles.rareart.io — you can find artist news and profiles there. The content part of our project is created on Readymag.

I’ve been using Readymag for quite a long time. I first discovered it with my other design company, called Never-Not. There we used Readymag for all types of presentations.

My favorite feature in Readymag is the grid — I’ve even changed the standard grids based on my own preferences. I also use Blocks a lot (the feature is under B shortcut): create a layout, then place elements in the vicinity you like, aligning them with the help of a grid, and as a final step turn Blocks mode on to create the exact spacing.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of editorials and magazines and always wanted to be a part of a printed publication. Readymag, with its focus on graphic design, fits that perfectly.