Background about Kaleidoscapes

This Kaleidoscape room in Oregon lets viewer immerse themselves in the reflected space.

Sara Frucht started Kaleidoscapes in 1997 in order to market her polyhedral kaleidoscope spaces. She came up with the idea of making these spaces as architectural structures back in 1987, but had no idea how to begin, so she put the idea on the back burner. Then, in late 1996, she told a friend of hers about the idea, and he encouraged her to get involved with a hi-tech entertainment project that was being planned at the time. That project never worked out, but it resulted in her starting the business and beginning the patent application process, and she received patents in October, 2000

Since then she has focused mainly on getting the structures into Children's museums, Science museums, public gardens and theme parks, and has also been pursuing toy manufacturing deals. She has had installations in the Montshire Museum, the San Jose Museum of Tech Innovation, the Long Island Children's Museum, the San Jose Children's Museum, and as part of a travelling mirror maze. The architectural kaleidoscape at the Full Spectrum Health Center in Portland Oregon was built in January, 2000 and is being used for light and color therapy, psychic readings, and meditation.

"My strongest motivation for going into this business is as an artist. I have always been drawn to geometric forms and I have also been drawn to fully-encompassing environments. I can still remember particularly beautiful houses, stores, gardens or other environments I went into as a child. I have also been strongly affected by the unusual and enchanting environments I have been in on my travels. I want to create environments that are magical and unforgettable."

Objects placed in the Kaleidoscape model are reflected into a virtual space.

"I feel that today, with the ready availability of images from all over the world, and particularily with the explosion of computer graphics and animation on TV, we are starting to be able to see in a completely new way - with a sort of hyper-clarity. On TV commercials, we are able to see a car built part by part, from the inside out. Or we're able to fly into a painting as if it were a 3-d landscape, or fly into a cup of water until we're able to see the individual molecules. "

"In a sense our ability to see has taken on multiple new dimensions - not only are we able to see reality in hyper-detail, we are able to create an abstraction of reality and view that in hyper-detail. In a sense we are mapping out and viewing the insides of our own minds - the ways of thinking as well as the thoughts themselves. I see my mirror creations as fitting into this trend toward a higher dimension of visual clarity. The expanded space and the semi-virtual nature of the environment will give people a sense of being inside of a space that is largely created by the imagination. The 3-d mandala symmetry will also give a hightened sense of the abstract, because the mathematical part of our mind resonates strongly with images containing repetition and symmetry. Being inside of a 3-d animating mandala will give people a direct experience of the greater possibilities of their imaginations."