Pixtamatik

Interior visualiser startup, Gen AI

Interior visualiser startup

Interior visualiser startup, Gen AI

Pixtamatik was born out of a need to make home design more accessible, empowering users to visualise furniture and decor in their spaces before purchasing. Initially developed as a tool for off-plan property staging, Pixtamatik evolved into a consumer-centric plugin for e-commerce, making it easier for individuals to make informed, confident design choices from home.

From concept to MVP, I worked with my co-founder, Lina, through creating a brand identity and steering the product strategy to align with market needs. Through extensive research, we identified critical pain users face when visualising home decor or purchasing properties. Insights were essential in shaping our proof of concept. We crafted a strategic SaaS model to integrate seamlessly with e-commerce platforms to elevate the online shopping experience and reduce customer indecision and drop-off rates.

I co-founded Pixtamatik to make homeware purchasing easier by reducing purchase paralysis. Initially, we focused on creating a visualisation tool for off-plan properties and staging, helping developers and realtors showcase properties more effectively. Over two years, Pixtamatik evolved into a consumer-centred e-commerce plugin, enabling users to instantly visualise homeware products in their own space before purchasing.

Users can “try out” furniture or decor in their homes with just a photo of their room, removing the uncertainty around how items will fit or look. This pivot from staging to individual product visualisation was driven by our goal to create a seamless, confidence-boosting shopping experience that reduces returns and simplifies choice.

I co-founded Pixtamatik to make homeware purchasing easier by reducing decision paralysis and indecision. Initially focused on visualising off-plan properties for developers and estate agents, the product evolved over two years into a consumer-centric e-commerce model. Users can “try out” furniture or decor in their own space using just a photo, removing uncertainty around fit and appearance. This shift aimed to create a seamless shopping experience that minimises returns and simplifies decision-making.

With my co-founder Lina, we shaped Pixtamatik from concept to MVP, guiding the product strategy and ensuring our approach aligned with market needs. We conducted extensive research to identify users' significant pain points when visualising home decor in their spaces or purchasing homes. These insights were crucial in crafting a proof of concept that demonstrated the potential impact of our solution. We developed a strategic SaaS model that integrates seamlessly with e-commerce platforms, emphasising the potential to enhance the online shopping experience and reduce customer indecision and dropoff.

Challenge

Problem

With increasing rates of online returns, especially in the homeware sector, customers often struggle to envision how a piece will truly look or fit in their space. This challenge goes beyond aesthetics—it affects customer satisfaction and return rates and ultimately impacts the environment. Retailers also face barriers, as only a fraction of homeware products are available in 3D formats, making virtual visualisation a resource-intensive task.

Customers often struggle to visualise home items before buying, leading to high return rates. Online returns reached 20% and cost U.S. retailers an estimated $743 billion in 2023. In the U.K., over 70 million returned homeware items end up in landfills each year due to limited policies for resale or donation. This highlights an urgent need for a better way to help customers make confident, informed choices that reduce returns and environmental impact.

For retailers and manufacturers, creating enough aspirational, varied product images is a costly challenge. Traditional photoshoots, which require studio rentals and professional photographers, are expensive and can’t capture every possible product combination. While 3D mockups are increasingly used, they demand hours of work from specialist artists and often fall short of capturing the beauty and customisation options buyers seek. This gap leaves customers and retailers alike needing a more flexible, accessible solution.

Research & Insights

Market Analysis
Our market fit analysis identified a rising demand for visualisation tools in e-commerce. Competitor benchmarking showed that most existing solutions required complex setups or lacked realistic results.

User Research
Interviews with homeowners, renters, and design enthusiasts highlighted a shared frustration: the inability to visualise decor in real-time.

Market Analysis
Our market fit analysis identified a rising demand for visualisation tools in e-commerce. Competitor benchmarking showed that most existing solutions required complex setups or lacked realistic results.

User Research
Interviews with homeowners, renters, and design enthusiasts highlighted a shared frustration: the inability to visualise decor in real-time.

Target Audience

Through in-depth audience research, we identified our ideal consumer as a tech-savvy woman aged 25 to 45, interested in enhancing her home environment—a hypothesis supported by solid engagement with AI-generated interior design content on our Pinterest account. Retail conversations clarified our focus on mid-range retailers, as low-end brands prioritise cost and ultra-high-end manufacturers cater to interior designers. We also identified a unique opportunity to serve smaller, high-end manufacturers who struggle with costly and complex photo shoots for their customisable products. With the US interior design market valued at $40.7 billion, we see significant potential to support these niche brands with efficient, high-quality visualisation solutions to attract better and engage interior designers.

More details about our target audience can be seen in the graphics below:

Personas

Pixtamatik v.1

A bold concept but not the right fit

Our initial vision for Pixtamatik was ambitious: an app where users could scan their homes to create a 3D ‘dollhouse’ model, allowing them to redesign their space with real products from different retailers. Users could experiment seamlessly with flooring, furniture, and decor, transforming how they plan and visualise home design.

A bold concept but not the right fit

Our initial vision for Pixtamatik was ambitious: an app where users could scan their homes to create a 3D ‘dollhouse’ model, allowing them to redesign their space with real products from different retailers. Users could experiment seamlessly with flooring, furniture, and decor, transforming how they plan and visualise home design.

Concept video

Moving away from this approach

Despite its promise, this approach presented several hurdles.

1. Tech and UX

The technology introduced challenges that risked frustration despite a strong user experience. Scanning entire homes required technical confidence, which many users lacked, resulting in pain points and drop-offs.

2. Retailer Integration

Few retailers had 3D models of their products, and those that did often used large BIM files that were unsuitable for smooth web rendering. This limited our product selection and complicated integration, reducing the app’s overall value and practicality.

3. Rendering Challenges

Our advanced rendering engine drained device batteries quickly, making the app unsustainable. The high resource demands outweighed the benefits, compromising our vision of a seamless experience.

By understanding these challenges early, we shifted our focus to a more streamlined solution that better balances user experience and technical feasibility.

1. Tech and UX

The technology introduced challenges that risked frustration despite a strong user experience. Scanning entire homes required technical confidence, which many users lacked, resulting in pain points and drop-offs.

2. Retailer Integration

Few retailers had 3D models of their products, and those that did often used large BIM files that were unsuitable for smooth web rendering. This limited our product selection and complicated integration, reducing the app’s overall value and practicality.

3. Rendering Challenges

Our advanced rendering engine drained device batteries quickly, making the app unsustainable. The high resource demands outweighed the benefits, compromising our vision of a seamless experience.

By understanding these challenges early, we shifted our focus to a more streamlined solution that better balances user experience and technical feasibility.

A selction of wireframes and interactions

Pixtamatik v.2

We discovered a breakthrough with 2D images, enabling users to place a retailer’s product image onto a photo of their home. By training a single AI model to apply realistic lighting adjustments, we achieved the visual quality of a 3D render or photoshoot without the complexity.

This approach allows retailers to use existing product images, streamlining the process. Users can choose a product from the catalogue or upload their images. Our AI engine isolates the object from its background, letting users position it within their home photo. With a single click, the AI adjusts lighting to create a lifelike, realistic visualisation of the product in their space.

Standalone app / Proof of Concept

Welcome screen prompting to add an image

Image added and ready to fill with furniture items

Image populated with new furniture and decor items.

Et voilà! The image is now relit.

Pixtamatik in action (standalone app / POC)

Example outputs

E-commerce integration

The ultimate goal of Pixtamatik is to enable seamless integration into retailers’ e-commerce sites. This allows users to browse the entire product catalogue, visualise items in their own homes with ease, and make a purchase—all within the retailer’s platform. By embedding Pixtamatik directly into their online stores, retailers can offer an immersive shopping experience that bridges the gap between browsing and buying, helping customers make confident, informed purchase decisions in real time.

Reflections

Developing Pixtamatik highlighted the delicate balance between delivering high-performance technology and creating a seamless user experience. As a startup, we faced resource constraints and competing priorities, making it crucial to iterate rapidly and respond to user and market needs. This journey reinforced my commitment to building solutions that align with real-world challenges while remaining grounded in technical feasibility.