Coastermatic is a brand new service that lets you print your Instagram photos onto round sandstone coasters. I just ordered 4 and I am impressed at the ease of picking the images and the well designed check-out process. My favorite is the confirmation screen (above) that shows my 4 picks in a box.
Coastermatic is a side project by Brooklyn-based SVA MFA Interaction Design Students Tom Harman and Tash Wong. I am impressed!
This is SOOOOOOO cool; I’m definitely going to buy this and perhaps gift it as well! Thanks for showcasing them
Cheers,
Elizabeth
Jul 25th, 2012 / 8:27 am
OMG – thanks soo much for this post! This solves an issue for me…
Related – http://photo.stamps.com/Store/ is pretty neat as well…
Jul 25th, 2012 / 8:49 am
What a great idea!! I love this for gifts.
Jul 25th, 2012 / 12:50 pm
This is a great idea, but I don’t use Instagram :-(
wish they’d accept other sources…
Jul 26th, 2012 / 4:51 pm
@jkiel keep your eyes peeled over the next month or so. We’re working on a new feature which will open things up to a broader (not just Instagram) audience.
Jul 26th, 2012 / 9:09 pm
cool, thanks!
Jul 27th, 2012 / 10:32 am
I ordered these as a gift and the printing quality wasn’t really great. The images were dark, dull and lost a lot of detail. I was very excited when I ordered them but very disappointed when I got the product.
Aug 1st, 2012 / 6:20 pm
@Alexandra I’m sorry to hear this, we’ve sent you an email to address the situation.
Printing onto stone requires a very specific process which is unlike printing to paper or viewing on a screen. There are resolution constraints we are subject to, which are referenced on our homepage. We are working on adding a gallery of customer images and high-res close-ups, and your comment highlights the need to make this a priority.
Generally, we’ve found that photos with a limited color palette work best. Our recent feature in Dwell includes some good examples:
http://www.dwell.com/articles/from-phone-to-stone-coastermatic-modern-coasters-instagram.html
Aug 3rd, 2012 / 11:10 am
I got mine in the mail and love them! Yes, the printing quality could be better, but I realize it’s a crappy resolution instagram photo printed on stone.
Aug 3rd, 2012 / 2:13 pm
I emailed Coastermatic about my concern and they’ve been super helpful! I realize there are resolution constraints but I do agree that this should be addressed a bit better. The coasters on the video look amazing and again, even though I understand that there are limitations, I just felt it was a bit misleading. Adding a gallery of customer images and high-res close-ups is a great idea!
Aug 3rd, 2012 / 2:40 pm