While visiting the Durkan hospitality carpet booth at HD Expo last week, I was transported to an interactive landscape, surrounded by floating poppies. American streetpainter Tracy Lee Stum, in collaboration with Durkan, pushed the limits of 3D art form to unveil this playful booth feature.
Stum, who specializes in interactive 3D chalk art street paintings, used Durkan’s recently introduced Spectronics 25X digital printing technology to bring to life the 3D art form in carpet. The Spectronics 25X technology employs a 25 dpi system to achieve deep color penetration and elaborate design precision, and enables more than 56-percent higher resolution than traditional printing machines.
Featuring florals and geometrics in a 3D anamorphic design framework, Stum incorporated brightly colored graphics and photorealistic poppies to create the illusion of floating floral panels. Stum extended her pattern inspiration of California poppies into a hand-drawn 3D chalk wall mural, which she crafted during the show. The carpet appeared to rise from the floor and climb up the wall, and attendees jumped at the chance to experience the illusion.
(Above: Lodging's associate publisher Jeffrey Cohen and I participate in the action.)
Watch out for more creations from Stum, who will design a full collection in partnership with Durkan later this year.