To decorate the office of his new apartment in Brooklyn, Saif Ahmed chose a truly unique piece of art in its class. He bought a kit online retailer DNA11.com to clean up some of their cheek cells and then sent the sample to the company. The result: a futuristic digital picture black and blue its genome sequence enclosed in a Plexiglas frame.
Granting the purchase may seem a bit "presumptuous" of 31 years, Mr. Ahmed, a former medical researcher who now works as a quantitative manager capital markets, says she likes to have something that really represents a large proportion of my artistic life.
Customize T-shirts and mugs? So passé. Rounding consumers are turning to Christmas shopping "I retail" hyper-personalized everything art and headphones with yoga mats and food. In mymms.com, candy lovers can buy M & M's engraved with the faces of half an inch of their children or pets.
In Chicago, Whoopass Enterprises LLC bobblehead dolls sculpts custom model snapshots own customers. GelaSkins Inc. of Toronto and deceive the iPods and more than 130 items with others to use, designed vinyl skins to protect.
Using technology to enliven our vanity. It's easier than ever to make a high quality digital image and send it anywhere, and fast. Retailers, meanwhile, say advanced on-demand printing technology now allows them to quickly transfer photos, text and graphics in a variety of materials, including 3-D objects large and small, with clear results.
Social networks also helped to break down inhibitions about sharing our private lives. "We are so accustomed to customizing the world around us... power on Facebook to customize our wall and the creation of what we are, and technology has driven it, says Amy Maniatis, vice president of marketing for CafePress. com, where visitors can cast their photos on a yoga mat, Gaiam, Sigg water bottle or TomTom GPS. Some 40,000 new designs are uploaded daily by buyers.
Ms. Maniatis said sales of the company's make their own "products are expected to double this year to the" tens of millions of dollars from 2009.
A recent buyer is Christina Wells, a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, who changed his plain yoga mat pink for a measure of blue with a prominent picture of her boyfriend, Nick, giving the go- good sign. "He was mocking me for coming to yoga, so now I bring with me," age 21, Ms. Wells said. "It's definitely a conversation starter."
Customization is not just about aesthetics. For example, 's' NikeiD Nike Inc. 'program allows users to choose the materials for shoes' tread pattern (eg, for the road or street) and above (Gore-Tex, tights, etc) Just as choosing the color of Swoosh and sewing, and even text mark on his heels. left and right feet of different sizes? This can also be restructured.
JH Audio LLC in Orlando makes music headphones costing $ 399 to $ 1,149 based on molds of the ears of customers to deliver an optimized fit and sound better and safer. Buyers first visit by a local audiologist or hearing aid center ear impression silicone molds are made canal.
The molds are sent to JH audio, which uses a laser scanner and the UV curing process to print designs on the young shoots. Some people ask a child for each ear, while others prefer their dog, says the art director Zac Penrod.
The sale of products designed for end users sometime raises thorny legal and taste. Most companies require customers sign waivers stating the inherent rights of the loaded images.
But orders for monitoring inappropriate content is more subjective.
"Someone in a bikini is good," said Jim Cass, vice president and general manager of the division of Mars Inc. M & M's personalized. "Nudity is a no-no."
There are rules of political letters, too. Candidates may place orders with their names in the candy, and a picture of a donkey or elephant make the cut. But the company will not print messages on the M & M's that touch of support, such as "John James for Congress," said Mr. Cass.
More difficult for the police are the messages sometimes unknown jargon used in text messages. Mr Cass said: "There are things that kind of instant message and we will walk to the company people said:" What does that mean?''
Similar challenges are now faced with Fathead LLC, known for his huge cut vinyl wall graphics of sports figures, and which leads to customized printing. Of the 100,000 customers of the images uploaded in the last year for the super-size - about 750 this year alone sales of Cyber Sunday - most are harmless, such as Lee Woods. The orthopedic surgeon of 56 years of age, in Whittier, California, says he bought Fatheads of their children and resorts, and is giving his four brothers Fatheads of themselves and their children or other relatives for the holidays.
"Probably no place for them," laughs Mr. Woods. "But I'm in love with technology."
Occasionally, however, comes the presentation hinting joke. "We have received requests to print people who were clearly drunk, went around the toilet," said Todd Lunsford, president of Fathead. "We can laugh, but not produce it.
For many buyers, personalization remains an activity-centric especially me. Taz Shirota in San Francisco, a personal trainer for Crunch gyms spent $ 2,000 to the creation of 200 dolls of himself holding a basketball and flashing a peace sign. Wrists were distributed as gifts for clients and friends and started a page for sharing photos online with beneficiaries posing with 'Taz Jr.
Says 31-year-old Mr. Shirota: "I dunno, maybe I'm cocky. But it was a good marketing tool. "
Granting the purchase may seem a bit "presumptuous" of 31 years, Mr. Ahmed, a former medical researcher who now works as a quantitative manager capital markets, says she likes to have something that really represents a large proportion of my artistic life.
Customize T-shirts and mugs? So passé. Rounding consumers are turning to Christmas shopping "I retail" hyper-personalized everything art and headphones with yoga mats and food. In mymms.com, candy lovers can buy M & M's engraved with the faces of half an inch of their children or pets.
In Chicago, Whoopass Enterprises LLC bobblehead dolls sculpts custom model snapshots own customers. GelaSkins Inc. of Toronto and deceive the iPods and more than 130 items with others to use, designed vinyl skins to protect.
Using technology to enliven our vanity. It's easier than ever to make a high quality digital image and send it anywhere, and fast. Retailers, meanwhile, say advanced on-demand printing technology now allows them to quickly transfer photos, text and graphics in a variety of materials, including 3-D objects large and small, with clear results.
Social networks also helped to break down inhibitions about sharing our private lives. "We are so accustomed to customizing the world around us... power on Facebook to customize our wall and the creation of what we are, and technology has driven it, says Amy Maniatis, vice president of marketing for CafePress. com, where visitors can cast their photos on a yoga mat, Gaiam, Sigg water bottle or TomTom GPS. Some 40,000 new designs are uploaded daily by buyers.
Ms. Maniatis said sales of the company's make their own "products are expected to double this year to the" tens of millions of dollars from 2009.
A recent buyer is Christina Wells, a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, who changed his plain yoga mat pink for a measure of blue with a prominent picture of her boyfriend, Nick, giving the go- good sign. "He was mocking me for coming to yoga, so now I bring with me," age 21, Ms. Wells said. "It's definitely a conversation starter."
Customization is not just about aesthetics. For example, 's' NikeiD Nike Inc. 'program allows users to choose the materials for shoes' tread pattern (eg, for the road or street) and above (Gore-Tex, tights, etc) Just as choosing the color of Swoosh and sewing, and even text mark on his heels. left and right feet of different sizes? This can also be restructured.
JH Audio LLC in Orlando makes music headphones costing $ 399 to $ 1,149 based on molds of the ears of customers to deliver an optimized fit and sound better and safer. Buyers first visit by a local audiologist or hearing aid center ear impression silicone molds are made canal.
The molds are sent to JH audio, which uses a laser scanner and the UV curing process to print designs on the young shoots. Some people ask a child for each ear, while others prefer their dog, says the art director Zac Penrod.
The sale of products designed for end users sometime raises thorny legal and taste. Most companies require customers sign waivers stating the inherent rights of the loaded images.
But orders for monitoring inappropriate content is more subjective.
"Someone in a bikini is good," said Jim Cass, vice president and general manager of the division of Mars Inc. M & M's personalized. "Nudity is a no-no."
There are rules of political letters, too. Candidates may place orders with their names in the candy, and a picture of a donkey or elephant make the cut. But the company will not print messages on the M & M's that touch of support, such as "John James for Congress," said Mr. Cass.
More difficult for the police are the messages sometimes unknown jargon used in text messages. Mr Cass said: "There are things that kind of instant message and we will walk to the company people said:" What does that mean?''
Similar challenges are now faced with Fathead LLC, known for his huge cut vinyl wall graphics of sports figures, and which leads to customized printing. Of the 100,000 customers of the images uploaded in the last year for the super-size - about 750 this year alone sales of Cyber Sunday - most are harmless, such as Lee Woods. The orthopedic surgeon of 56 years of age, in Whittier, California, says he bought Fatheads of their children and resorts, and is giving his four brothers Fatheads of themselves and their children or other relatives for the holidays.
"Probably no place for them," laughs Mr. Woods. "But I'm in love with technology."
Occasionally, however, comes the presentation hinting joke. "We have received requests to print people who were clearly drunk, went around the toilet," said Todd Lunsford, president of Fathead. "We can laugh, but not produce it.
For many buyers, personalization remains an activity-centric especially me. Taz Shirota in San Francisco, a personal trainer for Crunch gyms spent $ 2,000 to the creation of 200 dolls of himself holding a basketball and flashing a peace sign. Wrists were distributed as gifts for clients and friends and started a page for sharing photos online with beneficiaries posing with 'Taz Jr.
Says 31-year-old Mr. Shirota: "I dunno, maybe I'm cocky. But it was a good marketing tool. "
