Maxfield Mellenbruch is an American sculptor, designer and creator of the iconic Kialara series, with his Bitcoin stage matching Rareplatinum and gemstones are engraved with sculptures for over $2 million. Mellenbruch first gained recognition for making refrigerated bitcoin wallets in 2014 that blurred the line between high design and encryption capabilities and gained followers of its followers among early adopters and collectors. His work explores the themes of security, value and permanence in the digital age.
Now, with Rarehe revealed the most ambitious work to date. Watch only at the Shenzhen Library VIP exhibition at the Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas in 2025 Rare At the heart of this year’s art auction, it is expected to be the best-selling artwork for Bitcoin in conference history.
Mellenbruch “From Cave Art to Code: Redefining the Value of Absolutely Scarce World” Together with Vijay Boyapati and Jesse Myers, Vegas is engraved by Erin Redwing. The conversation took place on May 29, 2025, from 3:10 to 3:40 pm, just hours before the auction Rare Conclusion on scarcity.
I talked to Max about the thoughts behind it before Bitcoin’s artwork unveiling and auction in 2025 Rare and the evolving role of art in a world dominated by Bitcoin.
Rare is a jewelry sculpture with extraordinary commitment – over 12,000 gems, 2.56 pounds of platinum castings and a design that blends anatomical familiarity, extreme material excess, almost ironic details such as its leather box mimicking butcher paper. What forces you to make this piece and how long does it take to do technically and financially ambitious work?
The whole thing took about a year – Platinum, handmade over 12,000 stones, bringing the right people together. From the beginning, Rare It is a stretch: from a technical, financial, creative perspective.
This idea has been established for some time – driven by an increasing interest in real things, enduring and nourishing. I started cutting down on processed foods and focused more on my body. This will naturally make me steak- simple, unprocessed, nutrient-density. It has been the center of my diet for several years. The more I lean towards it, the more I notice it becomes controversial. The narrative surrounding red meat reminds me of how Bitcoin treats Bitcoin early on – forgotten, attacked, misunderstood. But for me, both represent something honest and resilience. Rare From that overlap. Not as dietary information or similar information, but a response to the distorted way of value, and also an instinct to return to the element.
I already know I have to do it. But seeing people’s reactions (from the excitement of my jeweler to the incredible smiles) confirms this. Rare is more than just surplus. It’s about curiosity – do your best to see if it still sticks to it.
Author Jesse Myers believes that humans are biologically effective and can find scarce assets, which is the original instinct for Bitcoin to get involved. How this idea informs your vision Rare?
We’ve been chasing things that are hard to get. This instinct has not changed – just the object. Bitcoin is in it. The same is true for gold. The same goes for gems. and RareI want to hit the same nerve – only through something on the body. Platinum, Diamond, Ruby – Materials with literal and symbolic weight. They are beautiful over time, elements, forged. We don’t need to tell them why they responded to them.
title Rare Doing more than just describing it. People are always seeing a word, but once they see the piece, it makes a difference. It rewires. Hijack a little. Next time they see the steak, or hear the word Rare– This is probably the first thing that comes to mind. That’s part of the fun.
Yes, partly because of pushing the ceiling higher. if Rare Works, it improves everything before it. I thought about this – how to move things forward, not only for me, but for collectors who trusted my work from the start. It has nothing to do with hype, it’s about making something.
Your sculpture joins the lineage of a series of high-risk artworks, causing a thrilling reaction – fabergé eggs are an empire surplus, Damien Hirst’s diamond skull as a meditation on wealth and mortality, Manzoni Artist’s shit As a market provocation. In the age of Bitcoin as a decentralized store of value, how Rare What does it mean to challenge us around luxury, permanent instincts, and what is truly “worthy”?
I wanted to create something that looked impossible at first glance – diamond and rubber steak. Of course, this is ridiculous. But that’s the point. We are surrounded by noise and attention has become its own currency. I want to cut it down – not just for shock, but for saying something about what we value. About the ongoing. Just like the work you mentioned Rare The drama not only impresses people, but also has to be provocative.
Over the past decade, I have made physical Bitcoin wallets that have both currency and trust. I looked up and focused on the craftsmanship, which became a real collector base over time. Rare Not leaving – this is the next step. Loud. Still speaking the same language: weight, precision, permanence.
I feel like I’ve been given the right to go there.
and Rare The work has over $2 million reviews and debuted in a Bitcoin event, on the brink of cultural whipping, a confrontation with material affluence and the trajectory of Bitcoin. Do you see it as a “future shock” – especially with numbers like Michael Saylor suggesting that Bitcoin can reach $13 million per bitcoin? Even in Bitcoin, how do you think people are doing emotionally to deal with this value scale?
I’m not even sure what “future shock” means. Maybe it’s not about being surprised by the future, but about realizing that you’re already behind. Many people missed Bitcoin earlier and now they are watching it run. Yes, $13 million per coin sounds crazy, but maybe Wilder has nothing.
Things are moving fast, technology, money, culture – it’s hard to keep up. People are at a loss. That’s like Rare Suitable. This is physical. You can see it, feel it. In a world of the most valuable, it is important. The difference between Bitcoin – it’s digitized, but it still forces you to rethink what’s real. Same as long-term games like ETF. They just ask different ways: Where should I invest value?
Most people may not be ready. But no one really is. We all try to figure this out as the ground changes constantly.
Your early works, e.g. Kialara Maze Edition In 2015, helping Bitcoin to incorporate one of its first tangible forms (with design, functionality, and cryptographic symbolism into physical objects). and Rareyou have moved from a safe boat to a cultural artifact. How does this evolution mirror Bitcoin’s own transformation – from niche Cypherpunk experiments to globally accredited value and storage of institutional or corporate fiscal assets?
In the early days, Bitcoin felt invisible. I want to give it a physical form – people can actually stay interesting and engaging. The Kialara series did it. It helps Bitcoin feel real when it is still abstract.
But now Bitcoin is mainstream – ETFs, companies treasury, global headlines. It does not require the same verification. It doesn’t require me to do the same way. So my role changed. and RareI have contributed to the culture around me.
At a time when food, value and meaning are all overflowing…I want to create something like this tension. I’m not going to make nutrition statements, but now I’ve gotten from Bitcoin a decade ago the same feeling as the beef and carnivore movement, which is a meaningful, controversial, misunderstood. Rare It feels like the right place to explore this.
Just like Bitcoin’s blurred line between money, ideology and art, you think the role of artists in understanding this transformation – especially when the work itself (like Raresitting at the intersection of extreme material values and symbolic power?
I’m not sure if the artist’s role is to understand this shift, or because the artist appears. Sometimes we reflect the world. Sometimes we bend it. Nowadays, things are very open as artists. Satoshi didn’t make traditional art, but he reshaped how we view trust, time and value. It feels like art to me.
and RareI took some of the most enduring materials on the planet and molded them into instinctive things – related to appetite, rituals and survival. No electronic equipment. No moving parts. From the original elements deep in the depths, we all recognize a form, but rarely stop thinking about it. A piece of meat, freeze it in time. It won’t try to explain the moment, it can keep tensions sitting there. still. Silent. But still alive.
This is what art can do. It doesn’t mean you – it waits for you to find it.
The rare Max Mellenbruch will be released exclusively at the Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas. The sculpture will be unfolded in the deep library – a private exhibition space that can only be accessed Whale Pass Holder. Bidding has begun Scarcity And it ended on May 29.
Max’s book Kialara, documenting his early Bitcoin journey and the creation of an elaborate physical wallet here.
