From musical storyteller to digital storyteller, Aline d’Ambricourt is an inspiring woman. After delighting audiences on the international stage as a highly acclaimed harpsichordist for over 30 years, she moved on to delighting consumers with exquisite jewellery which has evolved into the web3/Metaverse realm.
An entrepreneur, futurist and digital nomad who has always been fascinated with innovation and technology, Aline is CEO and founder of GEM-XR – a Metaverse agency – and Camille Louise Jewellery s.à.r.l. based in Zug, Switzerland.
In 2020, when co-creating the jewellery brand with Camille Louise Merré, she started her journey in the blockchain and NFT sphere as the paradigms offered by the technology created immense creative and innovative potential. This led her to co-designing a ‘crypto jewellery’ item engraved with a QR code in 18-carat gold, including an NFT of digital art within the piece which she minted as the first Swiss jewellery NFT in 2021. In parallel, she partnered with Utrust for her brand’s website which enabled customers to purchase jewellery in any cryptocurrency.
The formation of GEM-XR was a natural progression for Aline, realizing that blockchain and web3 could address many challenges for the luxury industry, such as communicating authenticity, responsible sourcing and showing the product’s lifecycle, generating sustainability with on-demand manufacturing, and creating a new relationship where the consumer cobuilds with the brand.
Aline describes her business as a 360° web3 multiverse MaaS (Metaverse as a Service) agency that enables luxury brands, businesses, and creatives with bespoke NFT drops and wearables, to enter the Metaverse. “Our mission is for brands to engage with their customers in a 3D-rendered, interactive shopping and immersive environment at the intersection of CGI, digital storytelling and e-commerce.”
Commenting on the opportunities envisaged in the Metaverse in the future, Aline uses Gen-z as an example, stating that they spend a notable proportion of their time in virtual worlds and consider their avatars as extensions of themselves, and they express that by customizing their skins and bodies with unique assets. This, she says, represents a major opportunity for luxury brands in the next five years in the large gaming communities, to operate as in the physical world, trading or purchasing products using in-house currency.
Aline believes the Metaverse has brought about a shift in consumer behavior and personalization with consumers actively participating in NFT projects. Collaboration with the web3 space is key and not seen as competitive but rather as building an equitable, sustainable environment. “The Metaverse is a powerful opportunity to think very differently by unlocking new possibilities for customer experience and business value. From generational shifts to consumer adoption, those who join the Metaverse wave and innovate, will be rewarded.”
A memory that stands out for her is when she realized how the Metaverse provides opportunities for large-scale people transformation as web3 progressively becomes mainstream. It’s about rapidly learning, experimenting and connecting, by building a high-quality experience that will promote craftsmanship in a 3D augmented way with hyper-social experiences.
Through GEM-XR, Aline aims to contribute to the UN’s Global Goals (9, 12, 13 and 17) as digital luxury goods enhance the consumer experience by simulating different fabrics, colors, patterns and creativity (surreal outfits), thereby reducing the production waste generated from poor-fitting effects and unsuitable sizes. With AR try on for luxury goods, returns are minimized with no shipping or waste. Digital-only products reduce the carbon footprint and eliminate waste and chemicals during production and usage.
She points out that virtual designs have less of an environmental impact compared to conventional designs, in terms of production and in-use phases.
Aline’s words of encouragement and music to our ears, is, “Join us in building the Metaverse by engaging and co-creating with us. We need the community to engage in this digital revolution and help us write this story that is the Metaverse.”
ALINE D’AMBRICOURT’S METAVERSE & WEB3 TIPS
Website: camillelouise-jewellery.com
