World of Women

World of Women is a collection of 10,000 NFT portraits of diverse females. It was the first woman-orientated project in the crypto space and has been described by NFT Now as a ‘pillar of inclusivity’ and a ‘juggernaut’ of the NFT world.

In March 2022, a further 22,222 World of Women NFTs were minted as part of an expansion project called World of Women Galaxy.

World of Women and its community of collectors was the brainchild of the digital illustrator Yam Karkai. After learning that just 16% of NFT artists were women, and sales of their work accounted for just 5% of the NFT market’s turnover, Karkai wanted to rebalance gender representation in the digital art world.

Karkai created World of Women by hand-designing 200 different assets, including various skin tones, eye colours, hair styles and outfits. A custom code then pooled random assets to create the 10,000 unique portraits.

Certain assets also allow a work’s owner access to different World of Women community clubs.

The 10,000 NFT portraits were launched on 27 July 2021. They were each minted with a price of 0.07 ETH — about $225 at the time. They sold out in 10 hours. Following the release, Karkai donated 7.5% of the sale’s proceeds to charities dedicated to educating young girls and ending child marriage.

Soon, secondary prices began to climb rapidly. In January 2022, YouTube star Logan Paul sold one of his World of Women NFTs for 200 ETH — $765,000 at the time.

Other World of Women celebrity collectors include the pop star Liam Payne and Hollywood actresses Eva Longoria and Reese Witherspoon. Witherspoon’s production company has also partnered with World of Women to expand the business into television and feature films.

In January 2022, Guy Oseary, a talent manager who represents artists like Madonna and U2, signed World of Women. A month later, Billboard magazine invited Karkai to design a series of covers featuring musicians like Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera.

In March 2022, Christie’s offered Woman #5672. The work was selected for sale by members of the World of Women community and contained some of the project’s rarest attributes. It was offered as the final lot of an evening sale that featured works by Picasso, Renoir, Warhol, Hockney and Freud. It sold for £567,000.