In the world of crypto, anonymity is alluring. The reasons for this are myriad, but most apply to the average person and are a concern of anyone who has raked in a lot of money. The crypto-specific reasons that come to mind don’t inspire much confidence. We believe the only currency more powerful than $SOL is trust.
Without further ado…
The Founder
Brian Vander Mey
Many places, United States
Twitter: @_VMey_
LinkedIn: brianvandermey
Telegram: VMey5
Discord: VMey#1815
Three weeks ago, my family of 5 sold our house to hit the open road in a 43-foot home-on-wheels, and less than a week ago, I also left my full-time job. To quote my boy Leo from Django Unchained, “Gentlemen (and women), you had my curiosity. Now you have my attention.”
For the past several years, I’ve led a team of dozens of people in the development of a groundbreaking Conversational AI platform. I have a passion for building things that are truly new, but are incredibly deep. I excel in domains that aren’t yet close to being “solved”. That’s why Scapes could never be just another NFT project. If it was, it wouldn’t hold the interest of my ADHD brain for all the (legally-prescribed) Adderall in the world.
This drive to solve big, new, complex problems is also why Scapes itself is not an endgame. Look for more details in coming months about Lightyr, the company we’re building that will own, develop, and market Scapes core tech to bring attribute-trading to other projects.
That’s more than enough about me. Let’s introduce the team.
The Artists
Kira Cheremisinova
Kyiv, Ukraine
“Hey Kira, can you make us a hot air balloon in the shape of Steve Harvey’s head?”
This is but a small example of the insanity I have put Kira through while we’ve been building Scapes. And how does she respond? With pure magic, every single time.
In that example, Steve Harvey’s head as a hot air balloon, she didn’t just create it because the idea was there. She did it because she knew that it as feasible AND it would fit the brand AND it would look 🔥.
This is what I love about Kira, and what you should love about her to. If an idea isn’t going to work, if it isn’t going to fit the brand or the styling, she holds her ground. Weeks ago, we explored a potential collab with SolSnatchers and I brought her a ton of ideas, and she explored them all, but in the end she upheld what was right for Scapes. In this case, SolSnatchers and Scapes aren’t artistically compatible. I love that she cares that much. With her, it isn’t a matter of “CAN we”; with her immeasurable skill, that’s never the issue. Instead, the question is always “SHOULD we”? The quality of the end product is #1.
By the way, below is an image that is why we are all here today. This was the inspiration for Scapes. Future 1/1?
After having worked with her for a couple years at the day job, I hired Kira as a freelancer to do a small brochure for my dad’s aerospace startup Aergility. She created the above image as a way of showing all the potential applications of the tech. We were inspired by all of the possibilities, and the rest is history.
Stanislav Volobuiev
Kyiv, Ukraine
Twitter: @ehoehoeho
Stas is the newest team member to join Scapes. In fact, if you saw the Governor’s Mansion we did for NEONEXUS, that was Stas’ first piece for Scapes!
Kira and Stas are long time colleagues in their day jobs, and he has had 20 years of experience across the globe in logo design, illustration, and visual communication concepts.
What makes Stas such an amazing addition to the team is that he has his own view of ordinary things and sees a spiritual component in them. He uses drawing not only during work, but also as a means of daily self-expression. In addition to his dog and cat, he draws inspiration from his daily 10 km (6 mi) runs. Try to keep up!
The Developers
Artem Bondarenko
Kyiv, Ukraine
Twitter: @artoBond
Artem has been amongst my closest friends for years, and I’ve had the pleasure of working with him on many different projects in our day jobs, including the Conversational AI platform I referenced above.
This is a man who is seizing life by the ba — uh… he’s living life to the fullest, ok?
It seems like he and his girlfriend Liuka (also one of my favorite people in the world) are in a different country every other month, from Sweden to Spain, Georgia to Ukraine (he lives in Ukraine, but I had to score the rhyme). And you should see some of the pics of dismantled transmissions he has sent me!
I’ll let Artem close out his bio in his own words:
Technologies are my passion. Whether antiquated or innovated, C++ or Go, Ford “Model A” or Tesla, Cathode ray tubes or VR headsets.
Vitalii Horban
Kyiv, Ukraine
Vitalii was my rock when we worked together building our Conversational AI platform at our former job. He had intimate understanding understanding of ever corner of an insanely complex system. So when Scapes set out to not just reuse existing smart contracts but to create totally new tech, there was one guy we knew we needed.
Vitalii is my favorite kind of developer, the type who have a thousand different personal projects underway. While in his day jobs he has worked in everything from security to AI, C++ to Lua, on his own time he has created everything from his own smart home system built from Alixpress components to a desktop card game he made for his parents.
He also loves getting into the outdoors as much as he can, with his ideal vacation being either alpine skiing, mountain biking, or backpacking.
You should also check out his drone photography! Will update with a link if I can convince him to give me one…
Oleg Tyshchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine
How perfect is our newest dev for Scapes? Oleg’s hobby is LANDSCAPE photography, along with wildlife and bird photography! Oleg uses photography as a sort of meditative therapy. It keeps his mind fresh and helps him make breakthroughs in his other work.
Oleg has joined us in Scapes because of the potential that NFTs hold. But you should be excited because Oleg’s background is in iOS and Android development!
Future Scapes mobile app, maybe? No promises…
The UX, Community, and Marketing Team
Polina Kornet — UX Design
Kyiv, Ukraine
Polina was the first UX designer I ever worked with… and I never let her go! She is every bit as badass as this picture conveys, and she has saved me from more bad UX decisions than I can count.
We’ve been through it all together: mobile app store design, blockchain apps, apps that got defunded due to political disputes… always someone else’s idea.
This time, Polina doesn’t have to convince anyone to make the right UX decision. The buck stops with her. We can’t wait to show you the amazing site she designed, and I can’t wait to see what she’ll come up with for our dismantling and rebuilding mechanics!
As someone who grew up in the Netherlands and now lives in Kyiv, as well as holding the team record on languages spoken (Dutch, English, Ukrainian, and Russian), Polina has an incredibly unique POV. She loves rock climbing, reading, riding motorcycles, and she’s just starting to dabble in 3D printing. You can probably tell she’s someone who never wants to stop growing.
Elliot Berman — Community Manager
Blacksburg, VA, United States
Elliot aka “The Ape Wrangler” is the first team member I didn’t know from my day job, but I saw him masterfully handling the community of an incredibly innovative project Rookit Finance (check out their amazing Medium rootkitfinance).
When Scapes launched, there was only one Community Manager I reached out to!
Elliot started his first company before most folks have even gotten out of college. He was also involved in a digital music startup as Marketing Director. His career in real estate development was taking off until COVID messed everything up. But everything happens for a reason, and when the real estate door closed, the door to the world of crypto was blown wide open. As a community manager, his job isn’t just to chat and keep up the energy and momentum. His most important job is to make sure that people understand why Scapes is different. Still early on Solana NFTs, Elliott is in the perfect position to help bring about an amazing future.
