Digital Artist Dave Plowden Created Max’s Garage NFTs to Do Good in the Real World

Max’s Garage is an NFT project created by Dave Plowden in an effort to bridge the NFT space with charitable causes. The quick rise of NFTs (or non-fungible tokens) over the last few years has demonstrated that the digital world isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. With Max’s Garage, Plowden’s vision is to uproot negative stereotypes of NFT projects only being get-rich-quick scams. He’s goal is to leverage the quick fundraising capabilities of NFTs to impact the IRL (in real life) community with his art. 

The Collection and Its Story

Max’s Garage started with a genesis collection called “1st Road Trip”. The first collection has 20 tokens, each representing a GIF that features a hand playing with a toy vehicle. From red pickup trucks to taxis, green tractors, or colorful ice cream trucks, each NFT in the collection is unique, creative, and endearing, as they incorporate playful and fun images of the vehicles that make up our communities. 

Behind the art is a unique story that gave way to this playful and relatable collection. The images were inspired by a boy named Max, the son of Plowden’s close friend. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Plowden saw how vital autism programs and organizations were for children like Max, and he therefore sought to use his creative capabilities to contribute to organizations that help kids. Max’s favorite toys are cars and firetrucks, as he loves the sensation of rolling the object and getting it to move in real-time. As a result, Plowden decided to create Max’s Garage and feature the hand of Max or one of his friends playing with a toy vehicle. 

Changing the Tone of the NFT World

Max’s Garage holds goals and values that depart from the typical beat in the NFT space. Dave Plowden created this collection with no intention of getting rich. Instead, 100% of the money made through each NFT purchase goes to organizations that support kids. 

In April 2022, Plowden pledged to donate 100% of the proceeds from Max’s Garage 1st Road Trip collection to the Pittsburgh chapter of Best Buddies International. The 1st Road Trip collection went on sale April 22, 2022 and was sold out within 15-hours. Following that, a vehicle auction for Max’s Fire Truck took place and sold $2,969 USD (1 ETH at the time) to Cindy who goes by @Cindyth1_nft on Twitter. Plowden also partnered with another NFT project, Ugly Sweaters by Ira Magnusson, releasing an additional honorary NFT on April 24th featuring two bears from Magnusson’s collection driving in a VW-style van on a road trip. Altogether, the sales of Max’s Garage 1st Road Trip collection raised over $7,600 for Best Buddies Pennsylvania.

 

“Creating Max’s Garage showed me that there are some great people in this world that wanted to support what I started.” Said Plowden. Mike Cannings and Ashley Bestos of Lyke Island, a thriving NFT collection, contacted Plowden to offer support for the launch of Max’s Garage and also to donate $1,000 to Best Buddies Pennsylvania. Lyke Island lent the intellectual property from one of their NFTs, “Pippin’s Farm,” where Plowden used the green tractor as a utility vehicle in the 1st Road Trip collection.

On May 23, 2023 Dave Plowden and Max delivered the donation check to Best Buddies at its Pittsburgh office. They were welcomed by Samantha Civitate, Director of Development. The $7,638.49 raised for Best Buddies Pittsburgh will go towards a cooking competition that pairs top Pittsburgh chefs with people living with intellectual disabilities for an event of learning new cooking skills and fun.

The Artist Behind the Collection

David Plowden an artist living in New York who works as a VP of Marketing for a protein bar company called Chef Robert Irvine’s FITCRUNCH. With over 15 years of experience in the marketing industry and a lifelong commitment to and passion for painting and artmaking, his outreach, engagement, and creative skillset have intersected in this project to create a truly impactful collection. As an artist, he has always been dedicated to helping others through his work and having experienced a tumultuous childhood himself. His focus is on bringing support and services to children who need it. 

 

What’s Next? Continuing the Charitable Impact

Plowden plans to launch a collection of food trucks for the 2nd Road Trip in September 2022, donating 100% of the proceeds to No Kid Hungry. Following that, there will be a holiday toy drive at the end of the year. With endless capacity for generosity and a prolific artistic spirit, the project promises to continue developing and impacting as many lives as possible. 

View the complete collection on OpenSea, learn more about the project, or connect with Dave Plowden on Twitter to stay up-to-date on future Max’s Garage initiatives.

Media Contact
Company Name: Max’s Garage NFT
Contact Person: Dave Plowden
Email: Send Email
Country: United States
Website: https://daveplowden.com/