For the July edition of the Spotlight article, we interviewed one of the creators of NMKR, Patrick Tobler.
Hey Patrick! Happy to connect today and learn more about the NMKR project! Can you tell us how the project started and what is the problem that you were addressing?
Hey! Thank you for having me - it’s an honor.
Back then, when Native Tokens first arrived, and Spacebudz introduced the concept of NFTs to Cardano, I quickly realized that there is no simple way for non-technical people to create their own NFTs on Cardano. So I decided to partner up with Fahim, our designer, and together we built the first version of NMKR.io. Our goal was to focus on the User Experience and make the NFT creation flow as easy and accessible as possible.
What are the most important things about NMKR?
The main feature of the current version of the NMKR is uploading your images and creating NFTs in 3 simple steps. Once these steps are completed, the NFT is automatically being sent to your wallet. This whole process of going from an image to an NFT usually takes less than 2 minutes.
Going forward, how will NMKR make an impact in the crypto space or on the world?
Now that I’ve graduated from university, I will be working full-time on bringing the next version of the NMKR to life. For this purpose, we’ve started a company here in Germany called yellow house GmbH.
Our mission for the future of the NMKR is very clear: We want to make NFTs accessible to everyone.
For this purpose, we’re building multiple applications that will allow everyone to easily create, sell, trade & buy NFTs on Cardano. The main focus for this will be Version 2 of the NMKR, which will be a decentralized NFT marketplace.
We will be pushing the boundaries of what NFTs can be by making access to them more accessible, better, and cheaper.
What are your accomplishments so far, and what are you most proud of?
One statistic that I recently learned about makes me particularly proud is the following:
The NMKR is directly responsible for over ⅓ of all Token policies on Cardano.* Of course, this does not mean that we’ve minted the most NFTs or Tokens on Cardano but what it does mean is that the NMKR is currently the Cardano application with the most individual users (excluding wallets).
This makes me so proud because it shows that our approach of putting the user first and lowering the entry barriers is working. So many users' first “real” interaction with a dApp on Cardano was through the NMKR.
Why should people choose to use NMKR? What are the advantages?
To this date, there is no easier way to create NFTs on Cardano. We’re committed to improving this experience even further and building the most accessible decentralized NFT marketplace, not only on Cardano but in the whole crypto space.
What is the future of NMKR? For example, what new things to come, and what will it mean for the overall project?
Besides the previously mentioned decentralized NFT marketplace, we’re working hard on a tool we call NMKR PRO. This tool will allow professional users to utilize our backend services for their projects easily. Furthermore, by simply accessing our services, everyone will be able to build their large-scale NFT projects, marketplaces, or applications. The idea here is to become the backbone for many dApps and make the integration of NFTs as easy as possible.
Tell us about your team. Who are the people behind NMKR?
Our team consists of three people: Fahim, Peter and myself (Patrick). We all met during high school and have quickly become close friends. Ever since it has been our goal to start a company and work on awesome projects together, now, this is finally becoming a reality!
Fahim is our designer, so everything you see on our website or social media was somehow touched by him. He specializes in UI/UX design and has a passion for making music in his free time.
Peter describes himself as the person between User Experience and Technology. He has a strong programming and hardware background but is also excellent at optimizing the product and making it easily accessible.
And lastly, I, Patrick, am responsible for everything that has to do with the actual technology behind the NMKR. As a recent Computer Science graduate and Cardano Stake Pool Operator, I have a strong background in the technical aspects of Cardano. I’ve been in the Cardano space since 2017 and have even written my bachelor thesis about building a dApp on Cardano.
Which partnerships have you engaged so far, and which ones are the most impactful?
We’ve been in talks with many amazing projects, companies, and potential partners. Most of which we can not yet speak about because of various Non-Disclosure Agreements. But great things are coming to NMKR and Cardano!
Two of the most meaningful publicly announced partnerships have been with The Hoskinsons** & unsigned_algorithms NFT projects. Both of these projects have brought a lot of innovation and new ideas to the Cardano ecosystem and have set new standards for the world of NFTs. We’re incredibly proud that they’ve both used our NMKR PRO services to mint & sell their NFTs. By working with them, we were able to build, improve and test our PRO services in a controlled environment, and it is fair to say that NMKR PRO would not exist without them.
Thank you for your time! Do you have anything else to add?
Thank you for having me! Just thinking about what Cardano has allowed me and many others to accomplish in such a short time makes me unbelievably grateful. This space & community is changing the world every single day. For this, I just want to thank every single person who participates in the Cardano ecosystem in some way.
*It is NMKR’s claim that as of the time writing this article that NMKR is directly responsible for over ⅓ of all Token policies on Cardano.
**The Hoskinson’s is a collection of unique, limited-edition NFT trading cards commemorating the Cardano platform.