1935
Louis Lumière develops a process for projecting “cinema in relief,” and shoots several “stereo synthesis” demos in Paris. The market, however, is not yet ready for stereoscopic, or “3D”, cinema.
Our story
Looking Glass is a team of inventors, engineers, game devs, and artists chasing the dream of the hologram – specifically, the cinema dream of the hologram we were all promised in Star Wars, Iron Man, and Minority Report. Where groups of people can interact with floating 3D worlds without VR or AR headgear. We’ve recently made a couple breakthroughs that put that dream within reach, including the upcoming release of HoloPlayer One. Any fellow hologram hackers (or skeptics!) out there, come by our labs in Greenpoint, Brooklyn (the Home of the Hologram) and Hong Kong, see HoloPlayer One in person, and finally catch the hologram with us. The future depends on it!
Shawn Frayne
Co-Founder & CEO- 20 Best Brains Under 40, Discover Magazine
- Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award
- Built holographic optical table out of two tons of sand in high school
Alex Hornstein
Co-Founder & CTO- Worked on a dozen inventions in 3D printing, concentrated solar energy, green packaging, rural solar electrification, and a toothbrush that brushes all your teeth at once
Explore the Looking Glass Lab!
Our Team
A brief history of Looking Glass
1995
Fifteen-year-old Shawn Frayne spends hours upon hours building holograms with The Holography Handbook. Achieves rudimentary success but curiosity prevails.
2013
Nearly 20 years later, Looking Glass Factory is founded by CEO Shawn Frayne, CTO Alex Hornstein, and a small team of engineers from Shawn’s previous company.
2014
Volumetric printing debuts at MakerFaire NYC and South by Southwest. Looking Glass sells 1,000 volumetric prints on an experimental basis, and continues to make them for good friends.
2015
L3D Cubes launch on Kickstarter. Over 700 units sell in one month, totalling $250,000 in sales. The Museum of Modern Art’s Design Store in New York calls the L3D Cube the “lava lamp 2.0.”
2016
Looking Glass Volume, the world’s first personal volumetric display. Beta program is a resounding success, as 3D digital content starts to make its way into real physical space.
2017
August: Looking Glass shows the first prototypes of HoloPlayer One at Siggraph! A first run of beta units sells out in under a month.
2017
November: HoloPlayer One, the first interactive lightfield development kit, launches publicly!