ARV: The digital vault
for heritage design
Project overview
My role: Product Designer, Strategist
Team: Matilda Orring Lunki
Timeline: Dec 2025– (ongoing)
Scope: Concept Development, Product and Brand Strategy, UX/UI Design, AI Integration, Prototype
Tools: Google AI Studio, Google Stitch, Figma, Gemini, Antigravity, Adobe & Stark accessibility checks
The challenge
The heritage brands sector faces a tripartite crisis.
The Counterfeit Economy: High-quality fakes are eroding brand value.
Regulatory Pressure: Incoming EU Digital Product Passport (ESPR) laws require traceability.
Lost Lifecycle Value: Once a piece is sold, brands lose sight of the customer and the asset.
The Opportunity: Create a "Category of One" ecosystem that bridges compliance and customer retention, shifting the consumer mindset towards sustainability. ARV isn't just an authentication tool; it is a Digital Vault that transforms physical objects into managed financial assets.
The problem space
Trust is broken in the secondary market.
Despite the investment-grade value of brands like Svenskt Tenn or Artek, the ownership experience remains analog.
The "Paper Trail" Gap: Certificates are lost, making resale risky and friction-heavy.
Hardware Limitations: Vintage pieces cannot have NFC chips retroactively applied without damaging the aesthetic or value.
The Privacy Paradox: Owners want immutable proof of ownership (Blockchain) but demand the "Right to be Forgotten" (GDPR).
Counterfeit risk: Anyone can buy a 300-pack of NFC stickers online.
Strategic approach - a scanner for ESPR compliance generating brand loyalty and retention
We moved beyond simple "scanning" to create a system of Deep Verification.
Honoring Heritage over Hardware: We rejected the industry standard of slapping NFC stickers on vintage objects. Instead, we utilized LiDAR and Macro-Vision to authenticate based on craft (weave density, joinery depth) rather than just chips.
The "Hard" Value Prop: User research revealed they don’t want "storytelling" features; they want asset protection. We positioned the app as a financial instrument first, and a lifestyle tool second.
Privacy by Design: To solve the GDPR/Web3 conflict, we utilized a Zero-Knowledge architecture - verifying the asset’s authenticity without permanently exposing the owner's identity on a public ledger.
Design and prototype - developing the tech to honour hand-craft while fighting counterfeits
System: "Quiet Truth"
I established a design language that functions as a white-label frame for the art.
Visuals: Editorial Serif (GT Sectra), Gallery White backgrounds and high-contrast accessibility (WCAG AA).
Interaction: Minimalist and deliberate. The interface never competes with the object.
Core Flows
1. The Hybrid Scanner (The Brain) A unified viewport that orchestrates three verification methods:
Vision AI: Analyzes wood grain and woven signatures (for vintage).
LiDAR: Verifies depth of heat-stamped logos to detect 2D print fakes.
NFC: standard verification for modern, ESPR-compliant items.
2. The Digital Vault A portfolio management view treating furniture as assets.
Gamification: A "Ghost Inventory" feature shows complementary or missing pieces of a set (e.g., a matching footstool) to drive "Complete the Look" sales subtly.
3. The Legacy Transfer (Will vs. Sell) I designed a forked path for transferring ownership:
Legacy Mode: Transfers the item plus attached memories and photos (Gifting/Willing).
Marketplace Mode: Transfers item specs only, wiping personal data (Selling).
Impact and learnings - the challenge of digital ownership and the GDPR "right to be forgotten"
Impact
For Brands: Turns a compliance cost center (ESPR) into a sales channel and provides a direct connection to secondary market owners.
For Owners: Digitises the "paper trail," effectively turning furniture into a liquid asset by creating a digital twin.
For The Planet: By verifying authenticity and encouraging maintenance/resale, ARV supports the circular economy, moving away from fast production and instant copies.
Learnings
Strategic Friction The hardest challenge wasn't visual design, but the logic of ownership. Designing the transfer flows taught me that in luxury UX, clarity and trust are more valuable than speed. The user needs to feel the "weight" of the transaction for the digital asset to feel as valuable as the physical object.
Tradeoffs - tech adapting to heritage brands, not the opposite
1. Simplicity vs. Backward Compatibility
Decision: We sacrificed the simplicity of a "Chip-Only" workflow to build a complex Hybrid Engine (Vision + LiDAR).
Why: Relying solely on chips alienates the vintage market (items made before 2024). Our approach captures the vintage market, not just the 2025 market.
2. Deployment Speed vs. Hardware Access
Decision: We chose Native Mobile (FlutterFlow) over faster Web Apps.
Why: Web apps cannot reliably access the iPhone’s LiDAR sensors. Without LiDAR, we lose the anti-counterfeit security layer that defines our value prop.
3. Frictionless UX vs. Value Integrity
Decision: I deliberately introduced friction by requiring a "Physical Handshake" (proximity scan) to claim an item.
Why: A frictionless "Scan to Claim" allows users to claim items they don't own (e.g., in a store). Friction ensures the Digital Vault remains a source of truth, not a wishlist.