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VizeraLabs reupholsters furniture with the power of light

Looking for the perfect chaise longue? That's no easy feat even on the best days, but the process is made even trickier since stores rarely seem to have their full collections on display. That's precisely the problem a San Francisco startup called VizeraLabs is trying to tackle, and its team has built a curious little projector to help. You see, instead of displaying reruns of Doctor Who on your wall, it's used to project different fabrics and finishes onto whatever surface it's pointed at, be it a wall or an armchair.

This whole thing might sound a little kooky at first, but Vizera just might be onto something here. If things go their way, furniture stores will be able to cut back on the headaches that come with filling the show floor with samples, while potential buyers get to see the full assortment of patterns and materials (controllable from a connected tablet, no less) without having to schlep through a warehouse. Granted, a fancy projection will only ever help your shopping decisions so much (especially when you can't actually feel the finish), but who knows -- a little whiz-bang taste of the future might get more geeks gearing up to crack the home decor code. For now, VizeraLabs' tech is geared toward making sure you get exactly the recliner you want, but the team is on the brink of branching out into wallpaper for your home and exteriors and interiors for your next car purchase.