Howdy!

I’m Devon, one of the co-founders of White Walls. You may better know me as DevonFigures. I've been creating and exploring this space for a quite a while now, and have been blessed to find some success as an artist and a builder over the past few years.

I want to take you on a quick journey of how a simple idea has morphed into an innovation that [we hope] will redefine how we experience and appreciate digital art forever.

It all started at a little art gallery in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco back in 2011. The name of the gallery was, well, White Walls.

White Walls wasn’t just any gallery. It was a place where my college buddy Durkle and I truly connected with art for the very first time. Each new gallery opening was a new chance to experience something. To feel something new. When you walked in the door you were welcomed with a smile, an ice cold beer, and a thought-provoking conversation.

The gallery was vibrant, buzzing with creativity and devoid of the usual art scene pretentiousness. It was our hangout, our inspiration, and later, our muse.

After college, Durkle and I took different paths but were reunited by our passion for technology and design. We founded a creative agency down in Texas, tackling everything from local businesses to big corporate brands over the next decade.

However, as the digital landscape evolved, so did our interests. We were particularly captivated by emerging technologies and began studying and investing in blockchain relatively early. This prepared us for the eventual explosion of NFTs. The creative possibilities seemed endless, but the presentation of digital art felt limited—trapped within the confines of small, handheld devices. How does this legitimize the incredible space we all spend so much time, effort, energy, and hard-earned money in?

That’s when we thought, why can't we liberate digital art from these constraints? Why not bring it into living spaces where it can be truly appreciated?

The seed for White Walls was planted. We envisioned an app that could stream high-quality digital art directly from the blockchain to your living room by activating the largest display you already owned - your TV. Simple, right? Well, the concept was straightforward, but the execution was another story.

Building White Walls meant assembling the right team. We needed people who not only had the skills but shared our vision and passion for the mission. We found these in Greek, a sharp-minded biz dev guru and wonderful friend; Blondie, a notable figure in the Web3 space who provided our initial funding and helped shape our community initiatives; and Backseats, a developer whose unparalleled coding skills could turn our ideas into reality. We finally had our dream team.

Together, we've been refining the White Walls platform, aiming to make it intuitive, accessible, and revolutionary. It’s about more than just displaying art; it’s about creating a new cultural paradigm where digital art is as much a part of home decor as furniture or photographs. It's about discussing and embracing digital art with those closest to us in the comfort of our own tangible spaces. It's about bridging the gap from digital ownership to physical viewership.

Now, as we prepare to launch our Alpha V1 to a select group of early adopters, our excitement is through the roof. We’re not just introducing a new product; we’re inviting the world to re-imagine what art can be and how it can be enjoyed. The beta will follow soon, and then, hopefully, White Walls will be in living rooms everywhere, turning each one into a personal gallery. Beyond that, well, you'll just have to wait and see what we have up our sleeves.

This journey from a nostalgic memory in a San Francisco gallery to an emerging tech startup has been nothing short of incredible. Thanks for being here at the beginning and hearing our story. Here's to changing the world of art, together. Cheers --

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🤍DevonFigures

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Side Note: Are you ready for the coincidence of a lifetime? We brought our developer, Backseats, onto the project after months of design and planning. It wasn't until a month or so later that he finally asked about the name and its origin. We explained the little gallery in San Francisco and how this was an homage to the space we first fell in love with art.

As it turns out, Backseats actually lived right around the corner from the gallery, just a few buildings away, at the same time we roamed those San Francisco streets. We never crossed paths back then, but we took it as a sign that we're all in the right place now.

The original White Walls gallery closed down nearly 10 years ago, but the memories forged between those walls will hopefully live on forever through our interpretation and our vision.