Presti Employs GenAI to Eliminate Expensive Photo Shoots in the Furniture Sector

Have you ever pondered over the backdrops of sofa product images online? Furniture brands typically invest heavily in photo shoots when unveiling new collections, navigating through the logistical and financial burdens of furniture staging – a task easier said than done.

To address this challenge, a French innovator, Presti, established in November 2022, harnesses the power of generative AI. This technology can transform a solitary product photograph into an authentic-looking lifestyle image. Presti has recently secured a seed investment of $3.5 million, championed by Partech, a global tech investment entity, alongside contributions from numerous angel investors.

“We embarked on initial dialogue with 50 prospective clients,” shared Nabil Toumi, the co-founder and CEO of Presti, during a discussion with TechCrunch. “The feedback was unanimous. The creation of product visuals was time-consuming, financially draining, and lacked a straightforward solution. Yet, these images are crucial for brands to establish their distinctive identities and thrive in the digital marketplace,” he explained.

This is what Presti aims to streamline:

Transformed into this:

Initially, Presti did not exclusively cater to furniture brands. However, the startup soon discovered the unique and intricate challenges within the furniture sector.

“Photo sessions necessitated leasing premium properties and transporting the furniture, incurring significant logistical expenses. Moreover, these shoots had to be scheduled months in advance, sometimes costing them from hundreds of thousands to millions of euros annually,” Toumi elaborated.

At its foundation, Presti leverages an optimized version of Stable Diffusion XL, specifically adapted for exceptional performance in furniture product imagery.

Initially, attempts to utilize the generic version of Stable Diffusion XL revealed flaws. “Unexpected additions like extra legs on sofas or distorted backrests were common, alongside challenges in getting the perspectives accurate, such as ensuring the wall behind a sofa aligns correctly,” Toumi recounted. He further highlighted, “Crucially, our training dataset now exceeds 75,000 high-quality furniture images, bolstering our model’s learning for this particular photographic genre.”

Beyond mere background generation, Presti allows users to enhance images with accessories, like cushions on a sofa, that cast realistic shadows for an integrated look, avoiding the superficial appearance often associated with digital alterations.

Moreover, as furniture lines frequently offer various textures and colors for the same model, Presti is developing a feature enabling material swaps directly within its tool, simplifying the product release process for companies.

However, freelance photographers might view this innovation with skepticism. The question remains whether the creativity and uniqueness brought by human professionals in traditional photoshoots can be wholly replicated by AI-generated backgrounds without the images appearing overly uniform.

While primarily serving mid-sized furniture enterprises, Presti boasts a significant collaboration with Maisons du Monde, one of France’s leading furniture retailers. In addition to Partech, other investors in the blossoming startup include Maxime Brousse, Thibaud Elzière, Julien Hirth, Abou Laraki, and Rémi Lemonnier.