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Forever 21 creates screen of thread to show shoppers’ Instagram selfies

Forever 21 has teamed with custom hardware specialist Breakfast to create a 2,000-lb. screen that uses colored spools of fabric to create mosaics out of customers’ Instagram pictures. Users will receive an auto-edited video of their Instagrams being displayed on the screen. And it’s not an ordinary screen by any means. The machine will only be up until July 28th, so if you want your pic to be public (in an analog, IRL sense, that is), you better hurry. Check out the behind the scenes Kickstarter campaign from 2012 to see exactly how much work goes into these creations.

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Requiring continuous monitoring, the huge thread screen is housed at the Breakfast offices in Brooklyn.

“Forever 21 was looking to experiment with something quite different than what they’ve done in the past”.

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“We knew we wanted to build a Web-connected experience that anyone could try from anywhere in the world”. We also focused on Instagram, as it’s the most artistic/creative of social networks, and Forever 21 has a massive following on there (7.4 million followers). In the meantime you can check out the videos above and below to see the machine in action. And while compact in size, the Thread Screen still ended up weighing a full ton given the over 200,000 parts inside including countless motors and mechanisms needed to accurately control the positions of all those spools.

F21 Thread Screen