From validating the 3D model to the full-scale demo in the client’s own space: the Metagate × Turn-Key case shows how Mixed Reality can become a concrete tool for selling products such as professional counters and commercial furnishings in a more effective, faster, and more replicable way.
In the commercial furnishings sector, the distance between seeing a product and truly understanding it is often a physical matter: footprint, proportions, passages, ergonomics, workflows behind the counter. This is where the collaboration between Metagate and Turn-Key begins: using Mixed Reality on Meta Quest 3 to show counters and furnishings at real scale, directly in the client’s own space, making the sales presentation more "real"!
The solution used is OpenGate XR, Metagate’s Mixed Reality platform, designed to create XR showrooms that are replicable and can be updated autonomously through a no-code web app.
To explore the project further, you can also consult the articles OpenGate XR - easy Mixed Reality through Google Drive and OpenGate: the web app to build no-code worlds in Mixed Reality on Meta Quest.
Who Turn-Key is and why this case matters
Turn-Key S.r.l. operates in the design and turnkey creation of commercial and residential spaces, with an approach that covers consulting, design, and execution. It works especially in typical food retail contexts, such as delicatessens, bakeries, and other venues where the counter and back counter are not simple furnishing complements, but central elements of the store’s operational machine.
To better understand this type of context, some examples published by Turn-Key are also useful, such as Gusto Pronto – Turnkey delicatessen furnishings and Casa del Pane in Cerro Maggiore: a custom-built bakery delivered turnkey.
It is precisely in these cases that spatial visualization in Mixed Reality can make the difference: the client no longer has to imagine the counter inside their own venue. They can see it.
In this process, the visionary role of Loris Malagoli of Turn-Key should also be recognized, for having personally tested the potential of OpenGate XR and for choosing to engage with this new technology.
"For Turn-Key, the interest in Mixed Reality comes from a very concrete need: improving the client’s understanding of the project. In the commercial furnishings sector, the final decision often depends on the ability to imagine the counter or layout inside one’s actual space. Technical drawings, renderings, and floor plans are useful tools, but they do not always immediately convey proportions, passages, and relationships between equipment.
The ability to visualize the project at real scale through Mixed Reality therefore represents a natural step in the evolution of the sales process. The client no longer has to interpret a drawing: they can see the counter directly in their environment and immediately understand its volumes, footprint, and functionality.
For Turn-Key, this means making the design dialogue clearer and more collaborative. The technology does not replace design, but makes it more readable and immediate, reducing ambiguity and accelerating the decision-making moment.The goal is not to introduce a technological tool as an end in itself, but to integrate Mixed Reality as a new language for presenting the project, capable of supporting and enhancing the traditional tools used in the sale of commercial furnishings.
In our work, it often happens that the client struggles to imagine the project in their own space. With Mixed Reality, this step changes completely: the client no longer has to imagine the counter, they can see it directly in their own venue.”— Loris Malagoli, Turn-Key
Selling furnishings without physically bringing them to the client
Photos, static renderings, floor plans, and technical PDFs are useful for selecting a solution, but they are often not enough to make a decision. Mixed Reality intervenes here: the digital product is visualized at real scale in the physical environment, making it possible to evaluate volumes, presence, and placement immediately.
On Meta Quest 3, this approach is made possible by the combination of color passthrough and hand tracking, which allows users to interact with virtual content while keeping the real space visible.
Mixed Reality, especially in a commercial context, cannot be fully understood through a theoretical description or a simple presentation. It must be tested in the field, observed in its real effect on the product, on the space, and on the relationship with the client. The willingness to test it directly made the evaluation of its potential as a sales tool more solid.
What OpenGate XR is and why it changes the commercial dynamic
OpenGate XR is the Mixed Reality platform developed by Metagate for Meta Quest 3. The logic is simple: upload content from a no-code web platform and make it available in the headset without having to rebuild an app every time an update is needed.
In practice, this makes it possible to build a portable Mixed Reality showroom. Applied to the Turn-Key case, it means being able to show counters and commercial furnishings at scale in the client’s space, update content via web app (no-code), save configurations, and replicate the sales demo in a faster and more sustainable way.
Related articles:
The OpenGate XR project has also been covered by Metagate in relation to contexts such as events, trade fairs, culture, and immersive presentations.
What OpenGate XR enables in a commercial furnishings demo
From a commercial standpoint, the value of OpenGate XR does not lie in a list of features, but in the fact that it transforms a simple 3D asset into a sellable demonstration.
1. Content import through the web app
3D models, images, videos, and other content can be uploaded from the web platform and made available in the headset. This reduces dependency on repetitive software development and makes catalog updates faster.
2. Visualization in Mixed Reality passthrough
The digital object is overlaid onto the client’s real space. The counter is no longer shown in a neutral or abstract environment, but in the context where it will actually need to be understood.
3. Natural interaction through hand tracking
Through hand tracking, it is possible to move, rotate, and scale the object naturally, improving the understanding of volumes, footprint, and placement.
4. Saving configurations and scenes
The possibility of keeping saved configurations makes the demo more standardizable. In a sales scenario, this means being able to quickly reuse assets and layouts that have already been prepared, without rebuilding the setup every time.
5. Guided and multi-user experience
In showrooms, trade fairs, or sales meetings, multiple people can observe the same scene with a host guiding the experience. This makes the presentation more readable and more consistent with a sales support logic.
6. Optional AI avatar
OpenGate XR can be extended with a guide or voice assistant, useful when the demo includes a narrative or product explanation component. (Related to this point is also the article AI Avatar "Speech to Speech" - NPC or Agents in Mixed Reality.)
Why this approach is right for a first MR project in retail
In the retail and furnishings sector, it is common to make one mistake: immediately starting with very complex solutions, such as full configurators, extremely photorealistic materials, extensive integrations, and overly ambitious workflows.
In the initial phase, Mixed Reality creates value when it is:
- quick to activate
- reduces costs and risks
- replicable
- placed in the real space
For Turn-Key, this translates into a sensible first MR package: showcasing the main counters, a clear sales narrative, minimal but useful interactions, and a better client understanding of the product in space.
By Federica Riu
Related articles from the Metagate blog
To learn more about OpenGate XR, Meta Quest 3, Mixed Reality, and other related use cases:
- All Metagate blog articles
- OpenGate XR - easy Mixed Reality through Google Drive
- OpenGate: the web app to build no-code worlds in Mixed Reality on Meta Quest
- With BEFuture in Barcelona: OpenGate XR on the stage of IBTM World 2025
- Metagate wins the BEFuture program
- AI Avatar "Speech to Speech" - NPC or Agents in Mixed Reality
- Augmented Metagate Office on Meta Quest 3 (IOT + NFT)