WRITTEN ON January 18th, 2009 BY kiwivera AND STORED IN news, photography
If all goes to plan, the Polaroid factory in Enschede, Amsterdam, will soon be making film again thanks to its new owner, an eccentric Austrian artist and businessman named Florian Kaps. Mr Kaps, 39, has dedicated the past five years to instant photography. He set up Polanoid.net, the biggest Polaroid gallery on the web, and the first ever Polaroid-only art gallery in Vienna, called Polanoir.
Now he plans to save the film. “The project is more than a business plan; it’s a fight against the idea that everything has to die when it doesn’t create turnover,” said Mr Kaps.
Dubbed “The Impossible Project”, the development of new film for Polaroid cameras launches today. Working with the Manchester-based black and white photography company Ilford, the machinery is in place to produce film of two exposure types, each compatible with both the classic SX-70 cameras popular with artists and the more modern 600 series.
Work has begun on a prototype. By hiring 11 of the original Polaroid team from the factory floor, Mr Kaps aims to mass produce both colour and black and white film under the Impossible label by December, coinciding with the projected date that existing stocks will run out.
*does a little happy dance*



I’ve been meaning to buy one for a long time! I might just do that to help save it