Snow Day, New St. Louis Startup, Will Capture Your House in a Snow Globe

A new St. Louis-based startup aims to use 3-D printing to turn your house into a custom snowglobe.

Founded by Karl Stiefvater, Lisa Donahue and Amy VanDonsel, Snow Day says it can take any building you captured on video and miniaturize it — and then, for the ultimate bespoke holiday gift, it will place the mini version inside its very own snowglobe.

And, OK, it doesn't have to be a building. You could commemorate everything from a child's toy to a bottle of gin. The technology lets Snow Day do a 3-D scan of pretty much anything you dream up, and from there, the globe part is easy.

As the company explains in its first-ever press release, "While researching their business, Snow Day created prototype globes of homes, local landmarks — like the Lemp Brewery and Cherokee Street Indian, and products –- such as a City Wide beer can from 4Hands Brewing Co. and a santa-hat-wearing Hidden Valley Ranch bottle." See? The sky's the limit.



You'll be able to get a sense of just how cool the technology is at Snow Day's launch November 10. Held at soon-to-open Rockwell Beer Company, Snow Ball will feature collaborations with local artists, including Mary Engelbreit, Charlie Houska, Cbabi Bayoc, Peat Wollaeger and Alicia LaChance.

Per the release,

Snow Day commissioned 36 artists to turn small sculpture house blanks into works of art. Each unique artwork will be 3D scanned, printed in miniature, and installed inside a globe. These snowglobes will be displayed at Snow Ball on November 10th, 2018, from 7:00PM - 11:00PM at Rockwell Beer Company, and will be available for purchase by silent auction.

Proceeds from the auction will benefit St. Louis Winter Outreach’s Assisi House, which provides warm and safe shelter throughout the winter months and assists in transitions to permanent housing and employment for those in need. Donations of coats will also be accepted at the party on behalf of St. Louis Winter Outreach.

For more info, check out the company's website. Or get a glimpse of how the process works in the quadriptych below. Prices start at about $300, a spokeswoman says, but subsequent "prints" of each globe will then drop to the $100 range.




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