Picture It is the Shopify app 180+ art stores use to show a piece on the buyer's wall before they buy. Rarity, its AI-native sibling, runs drops, auctions and limited editions for art & collectible brands.
Augmented RealityBought, then rebuilt
Picture It was a working app with paying stores when I acquired it. Before changing anything I interviewed the merchants already using it, watched them set up a product and asked what they would fix first. I discovered three major problems during those chats:
- AR that was not AR.The camera view laid a flat image over the feed. Nothing was placed on a wall.
- Activation by variant.Turning previews on for one product meant clicking through every size and frame.
- No room to customize.Merchants could not change how variants or backgrounds looked.
- Upgrade the stack.New codebase, and a 3D modeling agency as a partner for true AR.
- Price to the customer.A scalable model that matches what each store needs.
- Make setup easy.Significant user experience work so activation takes minutes.
- Keep shipping.Consistent updates that give different kinds of art merchants more control.
Simpler activation of product catalog
Import products in bulk, switch previews on in a click, and let the app read each piece's dimensions from the listing. No per-variant setup.
Customizable framing to match offerings
Style, thickness, depth and matting are set in the app. The materials and colors the merchant adds become the options a buyer flips through on the product page.
Room mockups of all styles
Merchants build collections of up to ten rooms, each with a real wall width, so a 26 inch print is 26 inches on the wall. One collection is the default and any product can use another.
AI-nativeSame merchants, a second job to do
Picture It put me on calls with hundreds of art sellers. Once a store could show a piece on a wall, the next question was always about selling it: how to run a release, how to price a one-of-one, how to make a limited run feel limited. Rarity is the answer to that question, built for the customers we already had.
- A way to sell scarce work.Originals and small editions do not fit a fixed price and an Add to cart button.
- Tools built for art, not resale.Existing auction apps were made for liquidation and looked it.
- Start with the customers we had.Picture It stores were the first installs and the first feedback.
- Ship AI-native from day one.A fresh codebase let a small team build auctions, offers and drops in months, not years.
- One brand, two apps.Callio Commerce became the home for art sellers, which lifts both products.
Let the market set the price
Bidding turns a product page into an event, with a live count, a countdown and a reserve the seller controls. Make an offer gives a buyer three ways to a price without leaving the page. Both widgets take on the store's theme.
Build demand with scarcity
A drop opens at a set time with an edition size, a countdown and a notify list. The badge and timer sit on the product page, so the store never has to announce it twice.
Auctions, offers and drops on any theme
Each block picks up the store's fonts and colors, so a serif gallery theme and a bold comics shop get the same features in their own voice.
