Snap has partnered with Louis Vuitton and Japanese contemporary artist, Yayoi Kusama, to bring their collection to life through Augmented Reality (AR) on Snapchat.
New landmarker Lenses use Snap AR to imprint Kusama’s signature Painted Dots on iconic monuments around the world including the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Statue of Liberty in New York City, Tower Bridge in London, and more.
Louis Vuitton’s Painted Dots range in collaboration with Kusama represents the ongoing bond between the artist and luxury label. The dots in the collection use a technique that gives the pattern a realistic hand-painted effect.
Through this partnership, Louis Vuitton leverages AR as a paintbrush, making the world their and Kusama’s canvas to surprise and delight consumers globally.
Snap’s AR Landmarker tech makes it possible for creators to anchor their AR creations to iconic structures. Thanks to this technology, the world around us is an open canvas for brands and artists alike to experiment and reach consumers in new ways.
By leveraging Snap AR and the Snapchat Camera, brands are taking over iconic landmarks digitally, the same way it was done in real life at the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs-Elysees, or at Harrods in London.
By painting both the physical and digital worlds with Kusama’s signature Painted Dots, Louis Vuitton is bridging the gap between dimensions with the help of Snap AR.
In 2019, Snap started with templates of 30 beloved sites around the world that creators could build upon called Landmarkers. This made it possible to anchor their AR creations to iconic structures, like the Gateway of India and Egypt’s Great Sphinx of Giza.
The next step was to bring understanding to even larger areas, like entire city blocks and squares. With Local Lenses, which the platform introduced in 2020, Snapchatters were able to splash AR paint across the buildings of London’s Carnaby Street.
Recent partnerships included the UK’s Black Cultural Archives and Kugali Media to showcase the moments, figures, and stories of Black British history that lie behind Trafalgar Square.
But there’s an infinite number of places for our AR creator community to build anchored, location-based Lenses – ranging from experiences that are entertaining, educational, or can even help businesses grow.
Most recently, we launched Custom Landmarkers in Lens Studio, letting creators anchor Lenses to local places they care about – from statues to storefronts – to tell richer stories about their communities through AR.
Snap has a long history of partnering with artists such as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, and Mark Bradford, who have helped illustrate the magic of how the digital and the physical worlds can come together.
Snap has partnered with those who share a passion for creativity and immersive storytelling. We have similar sensibilities and a shared DNA – we’re all driven by innovation and seek to create new things every day.
Through a shared creative vision, our technology brings their art to new audiences, allowing their audiences to step inside new worlds.