Furniture Shopping Just Got Easier
Furniture shopping is exhausting. One of the most frustrating parts is putting the room together in your head. Sometimes you order throw pillows and a couch and an armchair in various fabrics, and when they arrive, you realize nothing works together. We’ve all been there. Showrooms and stores don’t always have the capabilities to show every piece in every available fabric option. And when you look online, it can be hard to visualize the piece IRL. But the folks over at VizeraLabs are changing the way we shop for furniture.
VizeraLabs created a device that projects every fabric option onto any given piece of furniture. From throw pillows to chairs to drapes to wallpaper, this will allow you to see how a swatch will look full scale before you commit to ordering.
The gadget takes a 3D scan of the furniture and uses technology to segment the model into pieces, just like an upholsterer would. The device doesn’t just cast a color or pattern atop your furniture though. The materials are scanned so that the textures and colors are consistent with the actual swatches, meaning the model actually looks real — taking shadows, depth and scale all into account.
The technology is designed for furniture shops and is already being used in a handful of ‘em. Two are in Turkey, one is in Paris and three are in the U.S. If you want to see it for yourself, head to Ligne Roset in San Francisco.
VizeraLabs isn’t the only company to dabble in augmented reality. Recently, Lowe’s Innovation Labs created The Holoroom, which allows homeowners to experience 3D simulated rooms in-store before they get to work on their re-dec. We are totally on board with anything that makes our life easier, or in this case, redecorating easier. Both The Holoroom and the VizeraLabs devices take a lot of the guess work out of things, which is something your probably want to avoid when dropping mad stacks of cash on expensive pieces of furniture. We don’t know about you guys, but we’re hoping every showroom jumps on the bandwagon to turn augmented reality into… well, umm, reality.
What do you think about the VizeraLabs device? Talk to us in the comments!
(h/t: Mashable)
