If you aren’t particularly tech-inclined, the mere thought of NFTs might give you a headache. Fully known as “non-fungible tokens,” which means they’re unique and can’t be traded for any other form of cryptocurrency, NFTs have exploded in popularity lately after people like pop star Grimes sold millions of dollars worth of digital art using purely blockchain assets. The technology allows buyers to purchase ownership of limited edition collectible digital goods like works of visual art, videos, and audio files. That makes them pretty similar to whatever physical objects you might usually collect; you just typically store and enjoy them in a different way.

Creations like these aren’t meant to be realistic. Authié willingly describes it as “ludicrous,” but that’s part of the appeal – both the designs themselves and seeing them contained within the capsules. Neo-Chemosphere, for instance, is set within bright pink rocks before an enormous reddened moon, taking inspiration from 1960s sci-fi. For Authié and Taylor, NFTs provide a new outlet for surreal virtual works like these, and a way to market them. The technology could help usher in a boom for fantastical digital artwork, architecture, and design; for some, that might translate into solely selling collectible digital objects, while for others, it could lead to developing projects in the real world. Other designers and architects are drawn to the way ...