by SAN JOSE, California — Outward, Inc., an independent Williams-Sonoma Inc. company and pioneer provider of cutting-edge automated photography solutions for the home furnishings industry, has recently completed its first Aperture Platform installation at Hoot Judkins Furniture, the Bay Area’s largest wood furniture store.
“We are very excited to complete our first retailer installation with Hoot Judkins as it is an exciting milestone for our company,” said Leah Kirkland, senior director of business development at Outward. “We are fortunate to have found a great partner in Hoot Judkins who recognized the value of bringing photography in-house to both gain branding control and improve speed-to-market which allows them to service the ever-shifting content and marketing needs of today’s consumer and the current supply chain.”
The Aperture Platform, which made its commercial debut at the October High Point Market, consists of an automated photo rig installed at the customers location and a web software application which empowers retailers and manufacturers to quickly produce consistent and professional quality imagery at unprecedented scale, speed and price point. This installation now allows Hoot Judkins to photograph its entire product line without the time and cost of a traditional photographer and studio set up and use the Aperture Platform’s creative flexibility to produce content for various marketing needs.
“We chose to use the Aperture Platform to quickly develop high-quality imagery for our merchandising needs across our website, brochures, and social media,” said Vicki Marchant, owner of Hoot Judkins Furniture. “The accuracy of this technology is very impressive, and it accomplishes merchandising goals for us that would be very hard to do without it. The set-up and photography processes are so streamlined, and the technology automatically edits shadows and backgrounds to fit exactly what we are looking for.”
The Platform is being delivered to a growing roster of home furnishings retailers as well as manufacturers and bringing the benefits of professional quality imagery at an unprecedented scale and price point.
Hoot Judkins Furniture, the Bay Area’s largest wood furniture store, was founded by Hoot Judkins in 1962 in San Francisco. Over the decades and three generations of ownership, Hoot Judkins Furniture continues to offer a wide selection of hand-crafted wood and upholstered furniture. Hoot Judkins is currently owned and operated by Vicki Marchant and her brother Bobby Watson and continues to be the Bay Area’s largest wood furniture store. www.hootjudkins.com
Outward, Inc. is a visual transformation and technology company. Since 2012, the company has been reinventing the way product photography is created, presented and consumed. Inspired by its deep experience working with Home Furnishings lifestyle retailers and manufacturers, Outward brings the advantages of automated, AI-perfected product photography to manufacturers and retailers of all sizes by producing a large volume of product images at the push of a button and publishing them in any format — from e-commerce to traditional media. Outward is an independent Williams-Sonoma company. For more information, visit www.outwardinc.com.
