Levita: engineering illusion for retail
- Apr 15
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 17
When levitation becomes a tool for scenography
Levita's magic secret lies in the combination of specific technologies creating a unique spectacle where the object seamlessly floats. Levita describes itself as the only patented, fully controlled levitation technology in the world, a claim repeated across all its communication channels. The marketing trick is working.
"Levita was founded in 2018 by Clément Kerstenne and Philippe Bougard, two experienced and passionate magicians who developed the world’s only fully controlled levitation technology."
A magic trick
For the past few years, Levita has been developing systems capable of making real objects float inside display windows, with no visible support. The effect is immediate: a watch, a sneaker, or a perfume bottle appears suspended in mid-air, freed from any physical constraint. Yet behind this apparent magic lies a more nuanced reality.
Pure levitation technologies, whether magnetic or acoustic, come with significant limitations: instability, strict weight constraints, or reliance on specific materials. By contrast, Levita’s systems can handle everyday objects, sometimes relatively heavy ones, in open and accessible environments. Some setups even allow direct interaction with the product.
All of this suggests that what we are seeing is not true free-floating levitation, but rather a carefully constructed illusion. A form of levitation that is designed, rather than purely physical.
An invisible, yet very real, mechanical system
Levita offers several distinct products.
The Gravity Display is the first product launched by Levita.With patented technology, it offers 100% controlled levitation, allowing products to be displayed without visible supports, with 360° rotation.
CEO Official Mag Magic Space goes further: with “Magic Space,” every project becomes unique.It allows any object to fly, anywhere.Aktus-cci This is the stage and event version of the technology, designed for open spaces and large-scale productions.
This setup enables precise control over movement: rotation, translation, elevation. Movements can be programmed, repeated, and sometimes synchronized with other elements. In many ways, this resembles miniaturized robotics: motors, axes, control boards, and embedded software orchestrating the whole system.
But what makes it particularly compelling is not just its ability to create movement, but its ability to erase any visible trace of its own operation. The support exists, yet it disappears. The structure is present, yet it cannot be perceived.
The goal is not simply to hide the technology, but to make it unreadable.
Scenography as the condition for illusion
This is where the system reaches its full potential. At Levita, the mechanics never stand alone, they are embedded within a broader scenographic framework designed to control perception.
The display window becomes a controlled environment, almost hermetic, where every element is calibrated. Backgrounds are often dark or neutral, materials are selected to minimize reflections, and volumes are designed to eliminate visual cues. The objective is simple: prevent the viewer from reconstructing the mechanism.
Light plays a central role. It is no longer just about illumination, but about structuring the experience. Beams are directed to isolate the object, create strategic shadows, and visually erase technical components. This approach echoes theater and stage magic, where lighting is used as much to conceal as to reveal.
Architectural integration reinforces this logic. Mechanical systems are absorbed into the structure of the display itself, hidden within ceilings, frames, or peripheral volumes. The technology dissolves into the space.
From displayed product to performative object
Perhaps Levita’s most significant contribution lies in how it transforms the role of the product itself. In traditional visual merchandising, objects are static. They are staged, but they remain passive.
Here, they become active.
The product moves. It rotates, shifts, follows a trajectory. It becomes part of a choreography. This movement introduces a temporal dimension: the viewer no longer captures a single image, but follows a sequence.
This shift is subtle, yet profound. It turns the display into a micro-stage, where the product becomes the main actor. The viewer doesn’t just glance,they observe, wait, anticipate. Attention lasts longer.
In a retail environment saturated with visual stimuli, this ability to hold attention becomes a powerful advantage.
Toward a post-digital scenography
While many retail innovations rely on adding screens or digital layers, Levita takes an almost opposite approach. The technology is present, but it recedes behind the experience.
There is no interface, no intrusive luminous surface. The object remains real, tangible. Yet its behavior defies expectations. It escapes the usual rules of gravity and stability.
This approach aligns with a broader shift toward what could be described as “post-digital” scenography, where technology no longer needs to be visible to be impactful, and where innovation operates through perception rather than interface.
Ultimately, Levita does not reinvent levitation. Instead, it redefines how it is staged. And in doing so, it turns a technical constraint into a moment of fascination, simple, immediate, and remarkably effective: the experience of seeing an object float, without understanding how.
Recognition and Development
Levita won the retail category at the 2021 LVMH Innovation Awards.
In 2023, Levita doubled the number of its projects, installed its technology in 8 new countries, joined the PulseFoundation's BEyond accelerator program alongside 9 other Belgian startups, and participated in 14 conferences and trade shows. It now has offices in 3 countries.
The medium-term ambition is to integrate magic into major cultural and event productions: theater, opera, musicals, exhibitions, and immersive retail.
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SOURCES :
Europastar
→ Description of operation (electromechanical, software, interaction, “automation of magic”)
Maison & Objet (MOM platform)
→ Technical data: movement types, capacities, retail use
EuroShop (exhibitor documents)
→ Technical PDFs: weight constraints, integration, device architecture
Trika Global (technology partner / integrator)
→ Global overview of display devices and technological control
IOL (Gravity Window Reference)
→ Real-world installation case study + concept of technological secrecy
→ Positioning, brand messaging, concept of “automated magic”