The Renaissance Awards
Renaissance masterpieces from Palazzo Vecchio in Florence transformed into 13 pieces of digital art NFTs to award young leaders globally.
Press release
- For the first time in history, celebrated artworks in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio by 16th century artists including Agnolo Bronzino, Giorgio Vasari and Cristofano Gherardi have been transformed into NFTs into a unique bespoke design by Eco-Age and method, a sustainable household brand that revolutionized the cleaning aisle 20 years ago with its future friendly products. These unique NFTs have been awarded to 13 young leaders all over the world at the inaugural Renaissance Awards, in a unique movie which premiered on October 10th and is now available worldwide on YouTube
- By gifting awardees with such unique NFTs instead of the usual statuettes, Eco-Age – the sustainable business agency behind the Renaissance Awards – has revolutionized the act of traditional prize-giving
- Should they choose to sell their NFTs – each winner will not only receive 100% of profits, but a Cardano ‘proof of stake’ smart contract will ensure they will receive 50% of royalties from every future resale in Tokhun’s Marketplace, in perpetuity”
- The Renaissance Awards is the first global awards dedicated to the work of international young leaders who are working for a more environmentally restorative, socially just, economically inclusive, and technologically balanced future.
- A major collector partner will be announced by early 2022
London, 22nd December – Eco-Age, the pioneering sustainability consultancy agency, has partnered with the Cardano Foundation, the not for profit organization and custodian of the Cardano blockchain, as well as partnering with the Tokhun.io marketplace to launch the Renaissance Awards NFTs
From 20th December, Cardano will launch the Renaissance Awards NFTs using the Tokhun.io marketplace to both create the digital assets and the smart contract-based royalties
Eco-Age has selected the Cardano Foundation for this groundbreaking partnership for their ethical and sustainable values:
- Cardano, a ‘proof of stake’ blockchain which evolved out of a scientific philosophy and a research-first driven approach. The platform seeks to deliver more advanced features than any protocol previous developed within a more balanced and sustainable blockchain ecosystem.
- The Cardano Foundation is wholly committed to supporting a carbon neutral Cardano blockchain as network activity scales.
- They set a Global Impact Challenge to plant 1 million trees with veritree to aid restoration efforts. Furthermore, the trees planted include a verified NFT Certificate of Land Restoration which is traceable on the Cardano blockchain.
- io is a community driven Cardano powered premiere NFT minting platform and marketplace with advanced features such as authenticity validation and artist royalties.
Five Renaissance paintings in total, featuring original artworks by Agnolo Bronzino, Giorgio Vasari and Cristofano Gherardi, have been transformed into Renaissance Awards NFTs in a design collaboration between Eco-Age and strategic partner method who is recognized for its history of using creativity to drive change.
Each of these paintings also appears in this year’s Renaissance Awards movie which features presenters Nile Rogers, Ahad Raza Amir, Colin Firth CBE, Giselle Bündchen and Annie Lennox awarding 12 young global leaders working on sustainable solutions for the future of our planet.
“In the sixteenth century, young Renaissance artists transformed society and shaped the modern world. Today once again, we see new young leaders driving both social and environmental justice,” said Livia Firth, creative director and co-founder of Eco-Age. “We wanted to recognise these entrepreneurs and campaigners with much more than a trophy. By creating NFTs from Renaissance masterpieces we’re not only creating a priceless awards fund, but we’re shining a light on how this new market can be used for social good. Recipients of these ground-breaking awards will have the potential to benefit not only from one sale, but from every future sale of the Renaissance Awards NFTs – now think what that can do to help fund their work, which is geared towards making our world a healthier and happier place.”
Frederik Gregaard, CEO of the Cardano Foundation said, “At the Cardano Foundation we want to empower the architects of the future. The Renaissance awards do just that by recognising the incredible achievements of young activists with this unique NFT award. There is so much potential with NFTs and right now, we’re seeing the exploration of what’s possible. It is extraordinary to think that work by the masters of the Renaissance are supporting emerging activists through a renaissance of youth activism.”
The Renaissance Awards NFTs are:
- The Forge of Vulcan by Cristofano Gherardi, 1555
- The Birth of Venus by Giorgio Vasari, 1558
- Ceiling of the Chapel of Eleonora of Toledo by Agnolo Bronzi. 1540-1545
- Ceiling decoration, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence by Giorgio Vasari, 1556 – 1558
About the Renaissance Awards and the winners:
The inaugural Renaissance Awards movie was released on 10th October to celebrate young leaders who are creating and driving solutions for a Socially Just, Economically Inclusive, Environmentally Restorative and Technologically Balanced world.
The movie, directed by Emmy nominated Giorgio Testi and produced by Pulse Italia, features presenters Colin Firth, Giselle Bündchen, Nile Rogers, Ahad Raza Mir, Annie Lennox, and an original performance by Ben Harper. The Renaissance Awards 2021 partners are method, Mastercard and Lavazza. The movie premiered on SKY television in all SKY Territories and is now available on YouTube worldwide.
The 12 awardees featuring in the movie are:
SOCIALLY JUST
ALESSIO GENOVESE
AMANDA NGUYEN
AMONGE SINXOTO
ECONOMICALLY INCLUSIVE
CHERRIE ATILANO
DIANDRA MARIZET & LEAH THOMAS
LESEIN MUTUNKEI
ENVIRONMENTALLY RESTORATIVE
IGOR FURTADO
SANJANA DIXIT
ROISIN TAPPONI
TECHNOLOGICALLY BALANCED
ADITYA AGARWALLA
FIONN FERREIRA
DIAN-JEN LIN & HANNES HULSTAERT
With CHELLA MAN, a 13th awardee, recognized with the Digital Creator Award for using social media for social good.
ABOUT ECO-AGE:
Eco-Age is a specialist sustainability and communications agency. We are a leading and trusted voice, expert in bringing positive, sustainable change to key audiences.
Our evidence-led sustainability narratives and programmes of change resonate with both consumers and industry insiders. Over the last decade we have honed specific expertise in supply-chains, textiles, impact measurement, internal and external communications, PR and event-planning. The programmes that we develop are aligned with international best practice and feed into global targets. This means the change that we help to activate is real and substantive.
ABOUT THE CARDANO FOUNDATION:
The Cardano Foundation is an independent Swiss not-for-profit organization that oversees and supervises the advancement of Cardano and its ecosystem. The Foundation’s core focus is in developing a Cardano adoption strategy through to integration and execution, to enable fast-track value creation for inclusive and equitable growth. As the custodian of the protocol and the owner of the Cardano brand, the Foundation works to drive adoption and partnerships, grow the wider blockchain community, shape legislation, and commercial standards, and ensure stakeholder accountability. Find out more: www.CardanoFoundation.org
ABOUT method:
method is a company filled with fearless thinkers, mad scientists and adventurous designers who believe in defying the status quo with innovation and optimism. We take cleaning seriously – but not ourselves. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in San Francisco, method (methodhome.com) is the pioneer of premium and design-driven home, fabric, and personal care products.
Press contact: Pe-Jae Brooks, Head of PR: Pe-Jae.Brooks@eco-age.com