The first auction starts December 22 @ 5 pm PST and runs for 24 hours. It may be over by now

By Gary S. Vasilash

“I’m a car designer by heart. I still draw my designs with a pen on paper, where I’m able to create a unique motion that leads to emotional lies, so the design ultimately feels like it’s created by a human, not a robot.”

That’s Henrik Fisker, founder and chief designer of the company that bears his name.

So oddly enough, the company is going to raise money—50% of which will go to nonprofits supporting corporate ESG principles—by auctioning off not Fisker drawing on paper but those drawings in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Fisker by Hand: OCEAN Concept Collection will be available in four tiers:

• Ocean One: One copy
• Extreme: 10 copies
• Ultra: 25 copies
• Sport: 64 copies

Ocean, of course, is the name of the company’s electric crossover, which is expected to go into production November 2022.

Those buying in the top three tiers will also get “redeemable benefits.” Things like. . .signed prints and even (for the person or, perhaps, organization who wins the bidding for Ocean One) an original work of art.

Why the NFT route? “I’m always looking for ways to strengthen our relationship with our customers, fans and stakeholders.”

The company, which is working hard to minimize the carbon footprint associated with its vehicles, points out that it is using Solana cryptocurrency on the Solana blockchain because it is “a proof-of-stake blockchain with far less environmental impact that proof-of-work blockchain.” Cryptocurrency tends to require a whole lot of electricity.

But here’s the thing: If he is going to put ink on paper, why not just auction that?

Arguably, by making a digital representation of his work Fisker is going more toward something that is, in effect, created by a robot.