Immersive experience for a jewellery client
A Modern Retail Experience
An interactive installation built around a projection-mapped slab that responds as a visitor walks in, comes closer and reaches out.
The brief
A jewellery startup came to me looking for a new form of retail experience. They wanted to give potential buyers and other businesses a one-off immersive experience, using a system they could keep reusing for years, so each new line of jewellery could be shown without creating a new installation.
The experience had to feel like walking into a world of its own.
The idea
The brief left the idea open, so the concept was mine. I pitched a space a person walks into and is immersed in, where the jewellery responds to them. It appears as a point cloud when they enter, emerges as the full model as they approach, and transitions into a second model when they hold a hand up to it. When they take the hand away, it returns to the first.
I designed and built it from scratch, from the space and the system to the real-time visuals and the music.
How it behaves
SoundWhite noise
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01
Empty room
No projection, the room behind the curtain is dark. Only white noise, like the sound of clouds.
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02
Someone enters
Model 1 emerges as a point cloud, showing its shape but not its textures. The first layer of music rises with it.
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03
They come closer
The model resolves into its fully textured state, and the music gains a second layer.
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04
They raise a hand
The projection transforms from Model 1 into Model 2 and the top layer of audio completes the harmony. Lower the hand and it returns.
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05
They leave
The installation regresses through each state, and the audio dissolves layer by layer back to white noise.
A stand-in jewel is used in this visualisation. The real installation is in the film below.
The film
Best with sound on. It runs through every state once, from the curtain opening to the curtain closing.
Made for SBEK. The models seen in this film were supplied by the client, and all rights to them belong to the client.
The space
I architected the space as well as the system. It is as closed off as the budget allowed, and the computer is kept out of sight, so that the piece could be as mesmerising as possible.
This is the plan I proposed when they first asked, with the real distances. It evolved a little to suit the final space.
Made to be reused
The client can hot-swap any two 3D models (.FBX), and the system automatically breaks them down into point clouds. The sensor-activated audio files can be interchanged the same way.
A simple interface is all they need, so new lines of jewellery can be shown for as long as they want, without touching the system.
How it's wired
