morpholio board app uses AR to place iconic furniture designs in situ

morpholio has joined forces with one of the world’s top AR visualization companies, theia interactive, to develop a suite of iconic furniture designs that users can place in situ using augmented reality. the idea is to make purchasing decisions easier for designers and shoppers who want to know if something will look good before ordering it.

the software brings materials and finishes to life using augmented reality

images courtesy of morpholio

the morpholio board app features a range of work from designers, from marcel breuer to mies van der rohe’s iconic barcelona chair, which users can study in minute detail. the collection also includes architects such as eero saarinen, warren platner, and david adjaye, as well as design influencers such as florence knoll, richard schultz, and harry bertoia.

furniture can be situated in any environment

morpholio collaborated with american design company knoll to see how far they could push the technology. the goal for was to work with theia to take on one of the major hurdles for AR in the design industry – detail. after all, interior designers need to see detailed finishes, patterns and even stitching to understand how something might really work in an environment.

morpholio partnered with knoll, longtime leaders in delivering modern design to the public in new ways

with this in mind, the board app aims to save interior designers from relying on cartoonish shapes to make decisions about color, space, scale and texture. instead, it uses apple’s ARkit, USDZ 3D file format, the ‘people occlusion’ in ios13 (that makes it possible to mix people and virtual objects in the same AR scene), and theia’s expertise, to project images of products with incredible detail.

knoll’s iconic designs require AR that can show hyper real detail

what’s more, for each AR product, board now allows users to add it to their mood board alongside other models, fixtures and furnishings. the result is a vision for an entire room or project that can be brought to life. it also automatically translates AR selections into cut sheets and furniture lists to share with your contractor, designer or collaborators.

users can choose any AR product in board’s gallery to view in 3D

‘at theia, we are storytellers. when apple put AR into every pocket, it gave us an opportunity to tell new kinds of stories to an entirely new audience,’ says bill fishkin, president of theia. ‘we hope to harness this powerful tech in order to bring designers a simply magical experience.’

the catalog includes david adjaye’s already iconic washington chair in AR

‘knoll has always pioneered showcasing our classic and contemporary furniture designs to the trade and the public in new ways,’ says david bright, knoll senior vice president of communications. ‘without question AR has become an exciting way to experience knoll design for the way we work and live.’

the USDZ 3D model format makes it possible to build incredibly accurate AR experiences

morpholio’s team is currently working with porcelanosa, dyson, hansgrohe, phase, davis and many others to deliver more immersive experiences for designers. currently board AR is available to download for iPad and morpholio says it is working on an imminent iPhone release. you can download morpholio board in the app store here.

users can zoom in on products to see minute detail such as stitching