"https://youtu.be/bpQ4kfJNkgg?t=6m44sIf you want to see how a non-Lebedev version holds and distributes the paint - see this video @6:40 or so. Maybe Lebedev's version uses the same thing, they just didn't want to show it in their promo photography?"
"These are really cool, but I have to say, Art Lebedev Studio didn't "recast something as basic as the paint roller in an entirely new light" This exact product has existed for a while. Just google "patterned paint rollers". Clare Bosanquet says here that they have existed in Romania for the last 100 years: http://the-painted-house.co.uk/about/"