Art, prints & gear
Proof that never fades
Limited-edition prints, tour posters, signed photographs, helmets, bats, gloves and footwear. The crystals go into the paper, the ink, the finish and the material, and their glow is lightfast: it lasts as long as the piece does.
Lightfast, like a ruby
Lightfastness is how well something resists fading in light. Most security inks glow because of organic dyes, and sunlight slowly breaks those molecules apart, so the glow fades. The crystals do not break down. Slide the years forward and watch.
100% of its glow left
100% of its glow left
Illustration. Dye fading varies with the dye, the light and the glass; the comparison shows the difference in kind, not a test result.
Why it stays
A ruby is a crystal of aluminum oxide with a little chromium locked inside it. Shine ultraviolet light on a ruby and it glows red, because the chromium ions sit fixed in the crystal. A ruby cut centuries ago still glows the same way today.
Intelligent Material works the same way. The glow comes from rare-earth ions locked inside an inorganic crystal, not from a dye painted on top. There is nothing in it for light to bleach, so the signal in a print, a poster or a helmet is still there when the piece is handed down.
- Lightfast. Resists fading in light: the property museums and print studios care most about.
- Inorganic. A ceramic crystal, not an organic molecule, so it does not break down in sunlight.
- For the life of the piece. The proof does not need to be renewed, rescanned or replaced.
Prints, posters and photographs
An edition is only limited if nobody can print more. Each layer of a print can carry its own crystals, so a reprint, a forged signature or a bumped edition number shows up on the first scan.
- Paper
- Crystals in the paper fibers or the canvas coating, so the sheet itself belongs to the edition.
- Print ink
- A blend in the giclée, screen or offset ink. A scan of the print, printed again, reads dark.
- Edition number
- Numbered in crystal ink or with an invisible inkjet code, matched to the edition on record.
- Signature
- Signed with the pen, with its own one-of-one flake pattern.
- Varnish and mount
- A blend in the protective varnish and in the backing or frame seal.
- Certificate
- A certificate printed in crystal ink that matches the print’s record, so the paper cannot be copied onto another piece.
Game gear and equipment
Game-used gear sells on the same trust as game-worn jerseys. The crystals go into the paint, the clear coat, the rubber and the labels, so the gear proves itself. More on how each one is applied.
Helmets
A blend in the shell paint or clear coat, and in the decals. Scanned when issued and when it comes off the field.
Bats and sticks
Crystals in the finish and in the stamped model and serial ink.
Gloves and footwear
In the labels, insoles, rubber and stitching thread of gloves, cleats and sneakers.
Balls and signs
Game balls, locker-room signs, tickets and playing cards, marked in the ink or the print.
Make it last as long as the art.
Artists, studios, galleries, teams and equipment makers: tell us about the edition or the gear, and we will plan the crystals for it.
Talk to Spark Labs