From Gieske to Luftschloss: A Journey Through Immersive Interaction
By Marius Rieg · · 3 min read
Summary: Sometimes a technology doesn't start with a plan, but with a question. At Gieske Studios, the question was whether the VR headset could be left out entirely – what followed at Luftschloss was a journey through Milan, Pforzheim, and the idea that movement itself could become the new language of the digital world.
Sometimes a technology doesn't start with a plan, but with a question: what if we did away with the headset entirely? That question sat at the start of a journey that began at Gieske Studios and, today, continues to live on at Luftschloss – in trade fair halls, showrooms, and newsrooms. It's a journey about how much closeness to the digital world can emerge once you stop letting people disappear behind a headset and instead keep them right there in the room.
The Origin: An Idea Without a Headset
Gieske Studios started out as a creative studio for photography, video, and CGI production – but alongside the day-to-day business, there was always room for experiments. One of them didn't have a name yet, just a conviction: digital experiences don't have to mean shutting yourself off from your surroundings. We wanted to build something where the whole body becomes part of the story, instead of relocating just the head and gaze into a simulated world.
That conviction turned into a concrete undertaking: movement itself would become the interface. No controller, no headset – just a person, a sensor, and a screen that responds to every motion.
Movement as a New Language
Technically, this rests on motion tracking: sensors capture the body and limbs in real time and translate every movement onto a large-scale projection. The screen becomes less of a display and more of a window that breathes along with you – turn around, and the scene shifts; raise a hand, and the image responds. It's a quiet but fundamental departure from classic VR logic: instead of replicating head movement and field of view, the technology carries the presence of the whole body across.
The result is a form of interaction that needs far less explaining than an app or a controller. You move – and the digital world answers. That immediacy is exactly what makes virtual objects tangible, interactive artworks shapeable, and shared play in the room possible, with no prior knowledge required from participants.
From a Studio to a Brand of Its Own
What began as an experiment at Gieske grew, over the years, into something that needed a home of its own: Luftschloss. The new brand didn't just inherit the technology – it gave it a clearer direction, moving from experiment toward projects that have to work both commercially and artistically at once. The ambition stayed the same as at the start: to create experiences that don't just impress, but trigger something.
Milan: Design You Can Walk Through
Just how far that ambition could carry was proven by one of the first major projects under Luftschloss: a collaboration with Duravit AG, one of the leading manufacturers of designer bathroom furniture. At the Salone del Mobile in Milan – realized together with Meyle+Müller GmbH+Co. KG – trade fair visitors could no longer just look at Duravit's design world, they could explore it through their own movement. A single gesture was enough to switch colors, cycle through layouts, or trigger animations showing how the products work in everyday use.
What stood out was the shift from viewers to co-creators. And it was exactly that move from passive watching to active trying-out that noticeably strengthened the connection to the brand – more than any classic trade fair booth ever could.
Pforzheim: A Newspaper You Experience
The second stop on this journey leads less into the world of design and more into journalism. Together with the Pforzheimer Zeitung newspaper, we're currently developing the Insider Hub – an interactive platform that makes editorial content accessible in a new way. On a large screen, articles can be "flipped through" with hand movements, multimedia elements called up, and interactive graphics explored – no keyboard, no touchscreen required.
News, as a result, isn't simply read anymore – it's walked through. A format that sits closer to experience than to classic newspaper consumption.
Where the Journey Leads Next
What began as an open question at Gieske has matured, at Luftschloss, into a technology that today works just as well at a furniture fair as it does in a local newsroom – two worlds that could hardly seem more different at first glance. That, to us, is exactly where the real value of motion tracking lies: it isn't a product for a single industry, but a new way for people and digital content to meet. We're curious to see which stop comes next.