I’m writing this on May 30, 2025, exactly 13 months after spending a whole night talking to Calvin Lin: a cryptonative pseudonymous patron, and securing funding for a LEICA Q3 to bring to reality my artistic vision.
By then, I was producing a daily AI illustration collection — “higher everydays” — that ran for 123 days uninterrupted on Zora.It’s not an overstatement to say that the combination of crypto and art through NFTs changed my life, although the key aspect behind the change is not related to the vertical or the medium but to an intrinsic factor that came prior and that defines me: relentlessness.
This collection is a testament to that: Thirteen months of pre-dawn expeditions, a five-figure investment, over ten shattered mirror prototypes, and countless conversations with master craftsmen who thought I was insane.
The concept was deceptively simple: An arrow-shaped mirror, positioned in scenic landscapes at the precise moment when darkness surrenders to light, reflecting the sky back at itself while pointing eternally upward. Simple in concept, brutal in execution.
@lght.eth, co-founder of the "higher" decentralized collective, understood immediately. When I explained the philosophical underpinnings of upward reflection as a metaphor for transcendence and the motto “AIM HIGHER”, he didn't hesitate. The mirror would be funded.
But funding and manifesting concepts in physical reality are entirely different challenges.
After doing the CAD design and finally finding a specialist artisan willing to try to build it, the first mirror shattered during transport, the second cracked under temperature changes, and the third couldn't achieve the reflective quality needed for the Leica Q3's demanding sensor.
The reality of what I was asking became clear in a message from one of the artisans, sent after mirror number six shattered: "I understand, I had never made such a complicated shape before and from my experience I saw it as feasible, with many precautions. But I have 6 broken mirrors, now we'll try the seventh. I never imagined this in any case. Out of commitment I have tried with all of these, and I hope to see the last one... Obviously it's costing me much more than budgeted, both in materials and hours spent, but, like with your first supplier, I'm almost certain it won't work out... I'm waiting to see the last attempt on January 7th. If it doesn't work, we'll talk about doing it in 3 parts or I'll deliver the iron structure and we'll discount the glass from the budget. Sorry for the trouble and thank you."
Reading that message on January 5th, 2025, I realized I wasn't just pushing the boundaries of my own vision, I was also asking craftsmen to exceed the limits of their lifetime expertise. And by the tenth broken mirror, even I was questioning the feasibility.
But relentlessness isn't about avoiding failure; it's about refusing to let failure be final.
Two master artisans (R and M), specialized in working iron and glass, finally solved what seemed unsolvable. Their craftsmanship speaks through every reflection captured.
Finally, on February 19th, 2025, I went to pick up the mirror that would survive.
Each location required geological surveys, weather pattern analysis, and accessibility studies. The timing calculations alone: civil twilight begins about 18 minutes before sunrise, but optimal reflection capture occurs in a 4-minute window that shifts daily based on atmospheric conditions and seasonal sun angle variations. Luckily, I had been preparing for a full year at this point.
The ritual became sacred, and each dawn became a pilgrimage: loading the car in darkness between 2-4 AM, driving to locations, carrying 40+ pounds of equipment through rocky coastlines and mountain paths in complete darkness, all while protecting a mirror that could shatter with one wrong step, and finally positioning it with the reverence of placing an offering.
The Leica captured the images, but something deeper was being documented with each sunrise. As the light changed by the minute and the mosquitoes ate me alive, I realized that photography at this level is meditation through suffering.
I believe the NFT market has matured by 2025. Collectors have learned to distinguish between manufactured scarcity and authentic achievement. No whitelist could replicate thirteen months of 4 AM alarms. No Discord can generate the credibility of over ten broken prototypes. The work will speak for itself or not at all.
TRANSCENDENCE taught me about patience and the willingness to fail repeatedly in service of a singular vision.
Now the last phase of the project starts: Minting, presenting, and distributing it.
I’ll be attending NFC Lisbon and NFTNYC to present the collection, and the mint process is about to start and will be live during June.
If you want to be a part of it, don’t hesitate to reach out. All support is appreciated.
AIM HIGHER
“TRANSCENDENCE"
by Adrià Masnou
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