Verse Talks Natalie Stone and Shane Lavalette: The next chapter of CryptoPunks, collecting against the trend and curation as the new PFP
This week we sat down with former General Manager of CryptoPunks and founder of StoneWork Natalie Stone, and artist, gallerist and broker Shane Lavalette. We unpack Stone's journey into NFTs, Node’s Punks acquisition, and the enduring passion of the community as well as the evolution of curation and collector identity, Shane's thought process when looking at an artist's body of work and the value of transparency and provenance.
00:30 - Welcoming Natalie Stone and Shane Lavalette
02:44 - Stone's path into NFTs and her work with CryptoPunks
06:40 - The significance of Node's Punks acquisition
09:50 - The future of CryptoPunks under Node
12:40 - The resilience and passion of the Punks community
16:30 - Will there be another project as significant for the space
18:13 - First order of business for Node
20:05 - How time has shaped community dynamics
21:38 - The maturation of the space and collector curation
24:00 - Curating as an expression of identity
29:00 - Developing taste, the role of education and exposure
32:40 - Notable collections and collectors
34:55 - Shane's background in the arts and introduction to NFTs
37:32 - The importance of brokering and advisory services
43:24 - Creating space for emerging voices
44:44 - Diving deep and collecting against the trend
51:10 - Dream collecting, "if money were no object"
52:28 - Shane's list in GrailersDAO
55:05 - Balancing transparency with a simplified marketplace experience
59:28 - The importance of provenance
01:01:48 - Artist highlights
01:07:37 - Verse Rundown
Shane Lavalette: https://x.com/shanelavalette
Stone: https://x.com/naughtaliestone
bhare: https://x.com/bhareboy
0009: https://x.com/0009ine
Klea McKenna: https://x.com/klea_mckenna
Noah Kalina: https://noahkalina.com/chickencamera
Molly Soda: https://mollysoda.exposed
Ralph Lemon: https://www.momaps1.org/en/programs/377-ceremonies-out-of-the-air-ralph-lemon