What is the metaverse? How will the metaverse impact the interior design industry? Is designing a virtual world the future of architecture and design as we know it? Tom Puukko joins Darla in this episode of Wingnut Social to have a conversation about virtual architecture and design. Don’t miss this futuristic conversation!
Tom is a British entrepreneur who's been working in digital innovation since 1998. He founded interiors brand Feathr.com, a marketplace where artists monetize their artworks as wallpapers and fabrics. Most recently, he's created Metaverse Interior Design, the world's first interior design marketplace for the metaverse.
What You’ll Hear On This Episode of Wingnut Social
[1:40] Upcoming webinar with Stacey Martin
[2:55] Mini News Sesh: Instagram reels from stories
[5:12] Learn more about Tom Puukko
[9:00] Learn the basics of the metaverse
[15:24] How the metaverse impacts the interior design industry
[19:16] The necessary skills to succeed in the metaverse
[24:04] Is metaverse design the design of the future?
[26:51] Where designers and architects should get started
[29:53] NFTs and Cryptocurrency in the metaverse
[33:03] The What Up Wingnut! Round
[34:17] Learn more about Tom and Metaverse Interior Design
[38:22] Blooper Reel!

Connect with Tom Puukko
Metaverse Interior Design
Feathr.com
Connect on LinkedIn
Follow on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned
Check out our next webinar with Stacey Martin!
Stacey Martin’s Formula for Rockstar Interior Design Presentations
Good to Great by Jim Collins
Oculus Quest 2
The Sandbox
Decentraland
Horizon Worlds
Unity
Blender

So what IS the metaverse?
The metaverse consists of 3D worlds where you can interact and live a digital life. You can choose a life that’s richer, more engaging, and more entertaining than a 2D platform. You can do almost all things that you can in the real world—gamble at casinos, dance at nightclubs, visit an art gallery, build a home, etc. 
Currently, you’re able to experience the metaverse through some sort of headset. We currently have proto-metaverses—the early inklings of what’s to come. If you’re in the US, you may have access to Meta’s Horizon Worlds or Decentraland. But these worlds still lack functionality and the renderings are underwhelming. But the seeds of what will come have been planted. 
So how is the metaverse applicable to interior designers and architects?
Metaverse interior design: the impact on the interior design industry
Digital technology has allowed architects and interior designers to connect with customers and market themselves transactionally. But the metaverse will open up a whole new world. The metaverse is currently being built but the people building it are coders. They don’t understand how spaces and subjects interact. They don’t understand how proportions can change a building. They don’t have the knowledge architects and interior designers are trained with. Because of this, the current experience in a metaverse feels like a gimmick. 
Architects and designers should be the people designing and creating the spaces. Doing so will create a whole new revenue stream. There’s no limitation of the potential volume that can be put into the space. You can sell multiple versions of different models. Designers become content creators. You can sell spaces to hundreds of thousands of people. Tom’s community—Metaverse Interior Design—will be the destination to source interior design and architect services and products. 
The necessary skills to succeed in the metaverse
Luckily, metaverse interior design doesn’t necessarily rely on coding. But designers do need to have an advanced understanding of how 3D models work. If you are competent with 3D modeling and own space in a metaverse, you can move a 3D model from a computer to the metaverse. The challenge in moving between the real world and metaverse design is understanding the technical limitations of space. 
Each “world” has its own set of technical specifications. Tom points ou