Skip to main content

Graffiti Fur is a carpet printer that brushes giant pictures onto your rug

graffiti fur makeshift carpet printer brushes giant pictures onto rug
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Have you ever wished you could turn your carpet into a giant canvas and draw strange, avant-garde murals all over your floor? Of course you haven’t. That’s a weird thing to wish for. But regardless, on the off chance that you do happen to be an aspiring rug artist, we’ve got some great news for you. Thanks to an odd contraption from designer Yuta Sugiura, you’ll be able to brush artwork on to your carpets faster than ever before.

The device, called Graffiti Fur, leverages the fact that the shading properties of carpet and other fur-like materials tends to change as the fibers are raised or flattened. You’ve probably experienced this at some point or another — it happens when you vacuum carpets, and leave butt-prints on your friend’s microfiber couch cushions. By moving the fibers to face one direction or another, you can draw or erase lines to create a picture.

Related: This vacuum uses ultrasound to vibrate dirt our of your carpets

Usually this is done with just your fingers, but Sugiura (a professor at Keio University’s Graduate School of Media Design) wanted something more advanced, so he and his team built Graffiti Fur to speed up the process. It works sort of like a vacuum, but instead of suction, it uses an array of moving agitator feet controlled by a servo motor to selectively raise or flatten carpet fibers as its rolled across the floor. With the help of some custom-designed software, it can be programmed to “print” out large monochrome images line by line. Check out the video to see it in action:

We can’t really think of any practical uses for this thing, aside from maybe printing out greetings for houseguests, and providing hours of entertainment for your kids, but it’s definitely a cool idea. At this point it’s not clear if Sugiura and his team plan to mass produce Graffiti Fur and sell it to consumers, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see it pop up on Kickstarter or Indiegogo in the not-so-distant future.

Editors' Recommendations

Drew Prindle
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Drew Prindle is an award-winning writer, editor, and storyteller who currently serves as Senior Features Editor for Digital…
There’s a huge sale on Arlo security cameras happening right now
Arlo Essential XL Spotlight Camera

If you're thinking about taking advantage of security camera deals to add an extra layer of protection for your family, you're in luck because Best Buy just slashed the prices of Arlo security cameras. There are even some bundles with reduced prices, so you can install surveillance on most of your home with just one purchase. There's a catch though -- you'll have to decide what to buy as fast as possible, because these offers may disappear at any moment. We've gathered some of our favorite bargains, but feel free to browse through everything that's part of Best Buy's sale of Arlo security cameras.

What to buy in Best Buy's Arlo security cameras sale
Standalone cameras are the most affordable options in Best Buy's Arlo security cameras sale. The cheapest one is the

Read more
Everything announced at Amazon’s fall 2023 devices event
The Amazon Echo Show 8 at the Devices Event 2023.

The leaves are starting to turn color, and you know what that means: Amazon's annual fall Devices and Services event is upon us, bringing with it a veritable smorgasbord of product announcements, from new Fire TV streaming gadgets and Echo devices to Amazon smart home gear like Blink and Ring cameras, as well as Eero Wi-Fi routers and Alexa galore.

Taking place Wednesday, September 20, from Amazon's shiny new HQ2 second headquarters in the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, the invite-only event was heavy on themes of generative AI and its use in the home, specifically how it relates to its own products. Dave Limp, Amazon's outgoing senior vice president of devices and services, delivered his last keynote, spilling the details on Alexa's most significant AI upgrade yet. Limp revealed its all-new advanced large language model (LLM), which will make the smart assistant more intuitive, conversational, and able to understand more complex nomenclature and nuances. And it's all integrated with Amazon's Alexa devices throughout your smart home.

Read more
New Ring and Blink cams bring extended range, battery life, 3D motion detection
Blink's Outdoor 4 flood light has built-in LED illumination.

Amazon's fall devices event not only brought AI features to Alexa and a host of new Echo devices; it also ushered a fresh batch of cameras and accessories from Ring and Blink, both of which are owned by Amazon. And if you've been looking for a low-cost outdoor camera equipped with powerful floodlights, today's your lucky day! Here's everything we know about the new hardware so far.
Blink Outdoor 4 Floodlight Camera

 

Read more