THREE DIMENSIONAL COLLAGE
A user reconfigurable platform for creating three dimensional overlapping layered collages for displaying elements is provided that includes pedestals of varying heights or lengths along a z-axis relative to an attachment substrate in an x-y plane. Multiple mounting boards are configured for mounting the displayed elements and for attachment to the pedestals. The pedestals attach to the substrate with a bottom separable interface and to the mounting board with a top separable interface.
The present invention in general relates to displays, and in particular to a user reconfigurable platform for creating three dimensional overlapping collages for displaying artwork, woven or knit material patterns, printed indicia, collector cards, stamps, currency, photographs, and objects.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe term collage derives from the French “coller” meaning “glue” and is a technique in art production, primarily used in the visual arts, where the artwork is made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. A collage may sometimes include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or handmade papers, portions of other artwork or texts, photographs and other found objects, glued to a piece of paper or canvas. A montage is French for ‘assembly’ or ‘editing’, and a photomontage refers to a composite photograph made up of separate photographs. Shadow boxes are also well known as a way of display mounting various objects in a protected manner. Butterfly mounts are exemplary of objects retained in a conventional shadow box.
Various types of three dimensional picture collages have existed for many years and provide a layered look with multiple levels along the z-axis, and have proven to be an attractive way to display multiple pictures in a single unit. The following U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,862 to Dyer et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,067 to Woronow et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,064 to Dodson; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,802,390 to Reis all describe a layered collage effect that is part of rigid non-configurable pattern, as determined by the manufacturer, and thus the user has no flexibility to move mounting planes around as desired to create a custom placement of photographs. The fixed nature of the photo placements in these aforementioned previous designs all fail to take into account that due to content of individual photographs, and the location of the subjects in the photo, that there are certain areas in the photograph that are available for overlapping, and these designs do not allow arrangement of each image beyond the locations the manufacturer has chosen.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,333,026 to Southhard allows a user to arrange photographs along a standard grid of supports. Although this is an improvement over the references cited above, the user is still relegated to a finite number of locations for each photograph. In addition, once locations for the mounting pegs are created, modification of these locations, or removal of a photograph, will visually expose the mounting peg or leave damage to the substrate if the peg is removed. Furthermore, this design also does not allow for overlapping of pictures and therefore lacks the 3D effect to the arrangement.
Despite the previous efforts for collage and montage arrangements, these arrangements lack a fully user configurable and reconfigurable three dimensional overlay of elements. Thus, there exists a need for a user configurable and reconfigurable collage display with three dimensional overlays of elements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA user reconfigurable platform for creating three dimensional overlapping layered collages for displaying elements is provided that includes pedestals of varying heights or lengths along a z-axis relative to an attachment substrate in an x-y plane. Multiple mounting boards are configured for mounting the displayed elements and for attachment to the pedestals. The pedestals attach to the substrate with a bottom separable interface and to the mounting board with a top separable interface.
The subject matter that is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
The detailed description explains the preferred embodiments of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention has utility as a user reconfigurable platform for creating three dimensional overlapping layered collages for displaying elements. An element as used herein is defined to include essentially two dimension objects in which the thickness is considerably less than that the two dimensional expanse, as well as three dimensional objects. Elements operative herein illustratively include artwork, woven or knit material patterns, printed indicia, collector cards, stamps, currency, rocks, shells, thimbles, figurines, and photographs. Embodiments of the invention provide for a three dimensional (3D) layered effect for elements displayed in the collage or photo montage. Embodiments of the inventive 3D collage/montage are easy to set up with pedestals with variable heights or lengths along the z-axis relative to an attachment substrate in the x-y plane. The pedestals may be made of metal, brass, plastic, acrylic, composites, wood, paper, and corrugated materials. The columnar pedestals support mounting boards to facilitate mounting of elements. In a particular inventive embodiment, a peel and stick surface is provided on the top surface of the mounting boards to facilitate easy securement of the mounted elements. In still other inventive embodiments, a ferromagnetic piece such a disk or washer is secured to the element as a mounting board so as to be positioned intermediate between the element and pedestal to facilitate joinder therebetween. In other inventive embodiments, a user may attach the outward variable height projecting pedestals in any position on the substrate so as to create any desired pattern for the displayed elements, where the arrangement is reconfigurable on demand. In an embodiment, separable interfaces on the pedestals (magnets, material loops (Velcro™), push-pin, mating press fits or engagements, snaps, reusable and removable adhesives, etc.) allow repositioning and replacement of the pedestals without leaving witness marks in the substrate.
In embodiments, the substrate may be an open sheet that is framed or unframed, or a backplane of a shadow box enclosure, where a cover prevents dust buildup on the display elements. In embodiments, a frameless design with large scale mattes allows for wall art displays, when the wall is coated in steel or some other substrate compatible with the pedestal design. In embodiments the substrate may be metal, cork bulletin board material, foam, and Velcro™.
Referring now to the figures, where like elements in the different figures are identified with equivalent or similar numbers, an inventive user configurable 3D collage display is shown generally at 10 in
The foregoing description is illustrative of particular embodiments of the invention, but is not meant to be a limitation upon the practice thereof. The following claims, including all equivalents thereof, are intended to define the scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A user reconfigurable platform for creating three dimensional overlapping layered collages for displaying elements comprising:
- a plurality of pedestals of varying heights or lengths along the z-axis relative to an attachment substrate in the x-y plane;
- a plurality of mounting boards configured for mounting said elements and for attachment to said pedestals; and
- wherein each of said plurality of pedestals attach to said substrate with a bottom separable interface and to said mounting board with a top separable interface.
2. The platform of claim 1 wherein said elements are each a two dimensional-object or a three-dimensional-object.
3. The platform of claim 1 wherein said elements include at least one of artwork, woven or knit material patterns, printed indicia, collector cards, rocks, shells, thimbles, figurines, stamps, currency, and photographs.
4. The platform of claim 1 wherein at least one of said plurality of pedestals is made of at least one of metal, brass, acrylic, plastic, composites, wood, paper, and corrugated materials.
5. The platform of claim 1 wherein said plurality of pedestals are attached anywhere on said substrate.
6. The platform of claim 1 wherein said attachment substrate is framed.
7. The platform of claim 6 wherein said attachment substrate is a backplane of a shadow box enclosure.
8. The platform of claim 1 said attachment substrate is a wall.
9. The platform of claim 1 wherein at least one of said plurality of mounting boards is planar.
10. The platform of claim 9 wherein at least one of said plurality of mounting boards has a shape of square, rectangle, triangular, trapezoidal, and circular.
11. The platform of claim 1 wherein at least one of said plurality of mounting boards is made of metal, plastic, composite, wood, paper, or corrugated materials.
12. The platform of claim 1 wherein the top and bottom separable interfaces are combinations of magnets, hook and loop fasteners, push-pin, mating press fits or engagements, snaps, and reusable and removable adhesives; and
- wherein the bottom separable interfaces allow repositioning and replacement of the pedestals without leaving witness marks in said substrate.
13. The platform of claim 1 wherein said plurality of pedestals are formed from acrylic tubes or brass tubes with a bottom flared end and a top flared end; and
- wherein said bottom flared end holds said bottom separable interface and said top flared end hold said top separable interface.
14. The platform of claim 1 wherein said plurality of pedestals are molded with an upper and a lower engagement feature for securing said upper and lower separable interfaces, respectively.
15. The platform of claim 12 wherein a plurality of said magnets are present and positioned on at least one of the top or bottom separable interfaces with uniform polarity on the top separable interfaces or the bottom separable interfaces.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 1, 2013
Publication Date: Feb 5, 2015
Inventor: Robert M. Fuerst (West Bloomfield, MI)
Application Number: 13/957,206
International Classification: A47G 1/16 (20060101); A47G 1/06 (20060101); A47G 29/00 (20060101);