For years, I’ve had a running group chat where my artist friends and I compare tips, encourage each other, and lament about the stress of trying to make a living with our art. Each one of us is juggling three or four different jobs at the same time—from running Etsy shops to churning out 10-second TikToks and Instagram reels “for the algorithm.”

But for all the work it takes to be an artist, it’s far too easy to lose everything in an instant. I’ve lost count of how many artists have told me they were “shadowbanned” (or just flat out banned) from Instagram or Twitter—instantly losing the content they had spent so long creating and the audience they had built.

So when I fell down the web3 rabbithole, the concept of NFTs resonated—NFTs give artists a way not only to earn money from their digital work, but also own their content and audience without the risk of being disintermediated. 

Like many other NFT artists, I first started experimenting on Ethereum. But it was slow and expensive to use, and I didn’t feel good about Ethereum’s environmental footprint.

That’s when I learned about Solana. Solana is a blockchain, like Ethereum, but it shines in being eco-friendly and accessible—each transaction uses less energy than 2 Google searches. While Solana itself seemed artist-friendly, I didn’t see that reflected in the platforms built on top of it. The biggest NFT marketplaces on Solana didn’t even let artists upload their work—they only supported huge collections backed by teams with developers. 

Independent artists have fundamentally different needs than the large teams that run most NFT collections. The 1/1 NFT scene is driven by art; the collection scene is driven by speculation and utility. But on Solana, there was no home yet for high-quality art, designed around the needs of independent creators who care deeply about their craft.

So with a small team of builders and creators, we built it. Formfunction is the platform I would have wanted when I was first getting into NFTs—it’s a marketplace dedicated to 1/1 art on Solana, with the mission to help independent creators make a living from their art. It’s early days, but we’re already well on our way: creators have earned over $400K since our launch in February. Out of our 24 creator launch partners, 18 of them received new all-time-high bids on Formfunction, and every single creator made a sale.

Our investors

We’re excited to share that we’ve partnered with leading web3 builders and investors to accelerate our mission to build a better future for independent artists—we’ve raised a $4.7 million seed round led by Variant Fund with participation from Solana Ventures, Canonical Crypto, Pear VC, Palm Tree Crew Crypto, and OpenSea Ventures.

This amazing group of creators, collectors, entrepreneurs, and community builders will be helping us continue to grow. Li Jin and her team at Variant Fund bring extensive expertise in crypto and a creator-centric perspective to the table. We’ve also brought on several key members of the Solana ecosystem including Davinci DAO, Dylan and Ian Macalinao (founders of Saber), Francesco Agosti (founder of Phantom), and SOLBuckets, who are deeply integrated with the Solana and NFT communities. Finally, we’re extremely excited to have several amazing creators and collectors, including ThankYouX, IX Shells, Chris McCann, Cozomo de’ Medici, Amber Atherton, and Austin Virts be part of the round—along with our community, their perspectives will help guide us toward building a truly creator-first platform.

What’s next?

This round will go toward growing our team to better support independent creators, as we build out features that will move Formfunction beyond a purely transactional marketplace. We’re building a mobile app, creating social features to make auctions more fun, and working on ways for creators to connect with their community of collectors on Formfunction.

Lastly, we wanted to thank our community. We are deeply grateful for all the artists and collectors who have supported us, believed in us, and brought Formfunction to life through your art.

We’re incredibly excited to begin this next part of our journey to build a better future for independent creators! If you’re passionate about supporting creators and want to join us in this mission, please reach out to us via our open roles. This is just the beginning! 🌟

—Katherine, co-founder of Formfunction

Arweave is among the first decentralized data networks. Because it is the only network that can store data permanently, it is the most secure way to store data.

By using Arweave through Bundlr, we’re ensuring that our data, including NFT metadata, is as secure as possible. Contrary to popular belief, the digital assets, metadata, and code of NFTs are not always stored on their native blockchain but may be stored on centralized servers. This leaves the NFTs at risk of being lost if there is a hard drive failure or if a node goes offline. Given how much effort, time, and money are invested in NFTs, this is a huge risk for creators and developers—and using Arweave and Bundlr removes this risk.

At Formfunction, it’s important that artists and collectors alike can trust that the NFTs they are creating and buying are stored in a decentralized and permanent way. We’re happy to offer the benefit of lasting, decentralized artwork to our users by partnering with Bundlr. As a team building for a multiyear paradigm shift in the web and creator economy, lasting infrastructure is one of our top priorities, and Bundlr helps us get there by providing the best set of tools for accessing Arweave.

To see some of the amazing art available on Formfunction, check out our homepage. To learn more about the technology that powers Bundlr Network, see their docs.

We created Formfunction because we believe that the future of NFTs will be driven by independent artists and creators—illustrators, photographers, musicians, writers—who care deeply about their craft and take a long-term view of their work. Our mission is to support these creators’ journeys and help them make a living with NFTs.

Our goal isn’t just to build an amazing 1/1 art marketplace on Solana—we want to change the way creators make a living, for the better.

Today, to make a livable income, most creatives need to pick up 5-6 different income streams, spend hours each week making content with no guarantee of a return, fret over follower counts, and agonize over losing a social media account that can be taken away at any moment.

We want to return power to artists—to give them true ownership over their work, help them build an audience that can’t be taken away, and make it possible for them to earn a decent living with just 100 true fans.

We’re starting with creating a home for amazing art on Solana, but in the long run we’re building an end-to-end support system for creators who want to make a living with NFTs.

With Solana, we can offer artists a platform with low fees and minimal environmental impact. And by prioritizing simple user experiences, we’re welcoming the next generation of artists to the world of NFTs.

What’s next for Formfunction?

We have so much in store!

For web3 to succeed, independent creators need to be core contributors. We're on a mission to build a community operated and governed platform—a support system for creators as they work toward a better world. To stay true to this mission, new artist applications will be reviewed and voted on by Formfunction’s community members—so our community will help us decide how our platform grows.

Besides adding additional features to our marketplace (like participation NFTs and the ability to make offers on unlisted pieces), we’re also really excited to build an amazing mobile app. If web3 is the next generation of the internet, we shouldn’t be tied to our desktops at home—our ability to discover (and create) amazing art should go with us, wherever we are.

Finally, we’re listening to our community of artists so we can build what’s right for them. We’re moving beyond a purely transactional marketplace, and exploring other ways to support creators who want to make a living with NFTs—whether it’s better insights into how their work is doing on our marketplace, or easier ways to connect with their community of collectors.

To learn more about Formfunction, follow us on Twitter, check out our website, or join our Discord. Let’s build something amazing for independent artists and creators, together! ✨

Finally, thank you to our amazing launch artists. We’re so grateful that you have been part of this journey from day 1. 💕