About
Acanvas: The cord-free art display and streaming platform
$125,137
325
Meet Acanvas - An Art Experience Like No Other
We want to bring millions of pieces of art into the home, in a simple and elegant way, with a frame that is easy to hang and as customizable as the art it houses. Acanvas is the living art display for the home.
Acanvas features a first of its kind app that uses curated Art Stations to stream new artwork from a variety of artists and genres. And if you are feeling inspired, go ahead and search for the perfect piece or display your own imagery.
Acanvas' onboard battery means you won't have to worry about unattractive wires or difficult installation. And when Acanvas needs a charge, it does so on its own.
Acanvas can be hung without a frame or with a beautiful black-brown or silver matted frame that we offer. A custom frame can also be built to match any decor.
1st Stretch Goal! Instagram integration at 150K
You asked and we listened! We'll integrate everyone's favorite photo app into the Acanvas experience at the next major milestone of 150K. Let's go!
AS SEEN ON -
Digital Trends // Fast Company // The Verge // Engadget // TechHive // Hypebeast // Telecompaper // Ferra.ru // Geektime // PRWeb //
Discover and Display New Art with Acanvas Art Stations
Once you find the ideal location, you can start showcasing art immediately using the Acanvas app. You'll find the Art Stations feature inside the app, which is available for iOS and Android devices.
Our Art Stations bring art lovers a curated experience through the world of art, ranging from classic to modern. Think of it as a Pandora for artwork. The Art Stations flow through artwork, making it easy to discover new artists and keeping your space updated with new artwork all the time! The Acanvas Art Stations are an optional service.
Of course, you can also dive into your favorite genre and find the perfect piece for your wall by browsing categories or searching through styles and colors. The more you interact with the Acanvas app, the better it will get at personalizing pieces for your lifestyle.
Have a favorite image you’d like to display? The Acanvas app allows you to easily crop and share it on your wall. Set the mood with the perfect image to suit the occasion.
Of course, your personal photos can be used as well. Access your camera roll though the Acanvas app to share a captured or favorite moment.
Self-Powered and Self-Charging Intelligence
Acanvas features an onboard battery, a self-powered retractable cord, and a portable charging station. You can easily set Acanvas to charge when you are away, or it can detect darkness via the ambient light sensor and charge itself when everyone is asleep.
Acanvas' self-charging system ensures the charger and the charging station always make a solid connection.
We wanted Acanvas to blend into the background as a permanent piece of home decor, so the motorized system is quiet and moves smoothly and deliberately.
New - Manual charging demo
Acanvas Can Be Customized
Everyone's home decor and aesthetic is unique, so we wanted to make sure your Acanvas looked at home on any wall.
We felt like Acanvas should look like any other framed piece of artwork or photograph on your wall. You should be able to move it with ease and frame it to suit your personal style and preference.
We are offering a choice of two timeless frame options that can help make Acanvas your own. Black-brown or silver frames with sleek white mattings are available, or you can use Acanvas by itself for a clean, modern look.
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Extra Features: Multiples and Remote Framing
Multiple frames can also be controlled through the Acanvas app to harmonize and expand your wall space.
NEW - Splitting images demo
Images can either be split across multiple frames to maximize the visual experience or to create a unique grouping for larger walls. Special pricing is available during the campaign for a triptych.
You can also access your Acanvas from anywhere. Want to send someone at home a special note or photo? The Acanvas app can frame anything from afar.
Art Partner: Fine Art America
At launch, the Acanvas team is proud to be working with content marketplace Fine Art America to provide access to millions of artworks through the Acanvas app.
Having Fine Art America as a launch partner allows us to showcase the life’s work of over 100,000 living artists, along with well-known artists from previous eras. Fine Art America curates artwork across several categories including season, home style, holidays, interests, and also artists and medium.
Users are able to search for art mediums ranging from sketch, acrylic, watercolor, digital, pastel and more; or simply search for art produced by a well-known artist, or styles similar to a favorite artist.
NEW - Art Stations demo
At Acanvas, we have a curator on staff who is working to distill and categorize this wealth of art into the Acanvas Art Stations. Art is being hand-picked and added to each “flow” to help you discover new artists, styles, and genres.
Some of the talented artists we are thrilled to feature include:
Michelle Calkins
Carol Leigh
Carol Leigh is a photographer, writer and educator who specializes in photomontages. Many of her pieces reflect her time spent in the woodsy, coastal Pacific Northwest, where she currently resides. She describes her art process as “total madness,” but enjoys how a work can begin as one idea and blossom into something completely different than initially envisioned.
Our Journey Through Prototyping
Wall space is limited, so we wanted to create something simple and classic, something that would open doors to so much more art in the home. We began by demoing projected images onto blank frames. We wanted to explore the idea of having living artwork on the wall.
Eventually, we learned to align the projection just right.
Once we tested the idea of having a living canvas on the wall, we started testing different display technologies. We knew we had to create something that was beautiful. We knew people would not want another black rectangle, especially one with cords hanging from it.
Removing the cord was important, but we knew Acanvas needed to be dynamic and customizable. We also didn't want to hinder the placement of Acanvas or the visual appeal of a classic frame. We talked to friends and family and realized that the canvas also needed to match the personal decor of individual's homes. So we explored framing tablets just to see how custom framed displays would work.
It was when we were using the framed tablets that we realized we needed to find a permanent solution to the cord problem. We had looked at wireless charging technology, but it could not power the 23 inch display we wanted. That's when we decided on the onboard battery and motorized self-charging solution.
Once we paired the self-powered, cordless display with the custom frame and matting, we knew we had something that art and design lovers could get behind.
The onboard battery and self-charging system took some time. Nobody had ever attached a battery to a 23 inch display before. Much less a motorized charging cable.
The most difficult part was finding a smooth and quiet motor for the charging cable. We are proud to say we succeeded; Acanvas is almost soundless. We tested it! Building and testing the self-charging motor was a lot of work but it was worth it. The entire process from our initial idea to the product you see now took nearly two years.
Customization is key. We worked with frame shops to learn what people look for in custom frames. We educated ourselves on mattes and materials and tried to choose options we would put in our own homes.
We tried many different options in framing and matting. We hope you like the dark and light matted frames we chose for Kickstarter. If not, you can have a custom frame made at any frame shop.
At this point, we had a product you could customize to match your home decor, but a big part of the Acanvas experience is the way the platform can introduce you to new art. So we built out the Acanvas art platform and app. Once we had the basic app structure in place, we started populating it with art from creative commons and our art partner, Fine Art America.
We hope you enjoy the experience!
Product Specs
Why Your Support Matters
By supporting Acanvas you are joining a mission to make art as accessible as modern streamed media. You are helping us bring beauty into homes and apartments, without the gallery price tag. You are helping gallerists share and disseminate their new artist discoveries while helping artists get their names and works out there. You are helping make art discovery possible from your wall rather than a computer screen. Imagine the possibilities!
Who is Acanvas?
Manufacturing Timeline
Risks and challenges
Hardware comes with numerous challenges and surprises, and no one is more aware of this than our team. Acanvas is made up of seasoned manufacturers in South Korea, and engineers and designers based in Santa Clara, most of whom spent years building and creating projects for LG. Before LG, we spent a few years at smaller startups building and managing everything from open sourced software to foldable keyboards.
Our prototype units have already gone through a full month of beta testing, and the final touches will be added during our Kickstarter campaign. Our manufacturing is lined up, and we are looking to help manage our manufacturing costs and to find a community that is as passionate about sharing art as we are. We’re here to find fellow art patrons and to give them a way to display meaningful art and imagery. Acanvas is here, we can’t wait to deliver it to you. Thank you!
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Funding period
- (30 days)