VISUAL

Before and After:

Just like the idea evolved - so did the visual.

In my first message to O, I included a sketch (April 29) with an expiry date stamped at the bottom. I still had no clue what I really wanted to do for the visual - in fact, I have to admit my first thought was to make the work as boring/ugly as possible to focus on the concept and go full satirical - but one might say, I was talked out of it!

O: June 12, 2025 - 9:14 PM
"Hey! How are things looking on your end? I'd have capacity starting from next week to start digging into this."

Shortly after, we had a good first call covering all sorts of things - and what stuck with me the most was our shared enthusiasm for the journey ahead of us.

At the time I was just finishing my new website, a learning experience that opened my eyes to all the possibilities of creating in vanilla JavaScript without relying on external libraries - so at least I knew I wanted to keep going in that direction. But nothing more.

I’m not a coder by any means but little by little over the years, I’m learning and building my own little weird system that allows me to do what I call: painting.

This time I had to start over.

⸻

L: June 25 - 2:02 PM:
"How can I paint, without having to justify myself or without making something that is 'too deliberate' (perhaps 'too obvious' is the better term) in line with the original concept, that it would make it just unoriginal in the end?"

L: August 20 - 3:22 PM:
"I wanted to paint without having to justify - all I needed was for the work to be alive. It was summer 2025."

⸻

I started from scratch and shared various iterations with O along the way - right after the first week.

I very rarely, if ever, ask for feedback for my work - but knowing we're going full long-form - I make exceptions.

O never disappoints with his inputs - always very pertinent without interfering in my own raw approach to creating.

As summer went by, deep down I was not satisfied with the work yet (June 30) even if out loud I was saying otherwise. But on our first call, O said we didn't need to rush anything - so I took his words for cash and took my time.

O kept himself busy over the summer with the family and inscribing like he always does - the George Martin of Ordinals.

On my end, I had my first solo show in Montreal - all the while continuing my creative exploration outside the 'Best Before' code.

I needed a little get away after all…

And so between July and early August as I was working on some stuff I had this "caveman discovering fire" moment - suddenly I had new ideas on how to craft my textures.

I was enjoying the latest breakthroughs, but didn't dare to try these new textures on the 'Best Before' code.

Until I did...

L: August 18, 2025 - 8:19 PM
"I think you're gonna hate me"

At least now I was truly satisfied and ready to move forward with getting things done for real.

It was going to be the current and final iteration of Best Before.

Or was it? Yes and No

Believe it or not - we are still here making the most out of the time we have left before we put this one on-chain.

Elevating and polishing till the end.