Good news for baby-boomers, artists, and hipsters who adore analog instant film photography as much as I do: Â it’s been saved, thanks to eccentric Austrian businessman and Polaroid-enthusiast Floran Kaps and his 11-person Netherlands-based development team.
Launched in October 2008, The Impossible Project was created with one purpose in mind: “to keep the magic of analog Instant Photography alive by producing a new Instant Film Material,” and it seems as though Kaps has done just that. Upon salvaging old machinery and signing a 10-year lease for the last Polaroid production plant in Enschede, Netherlands,  Kaps and his team developed a “scaled-down and condensed production process” for instant film that will fill the void Polaroid left when it stopped producing the cherished film in 2009. Resulting are the new Px 100 and 600 Silver Shade “First Flush” Edition films – a term usually exclusively used in reference to the first pickings of tea. This edition was specially crafted as a “cordial invitation to all interested photographers ” to discover the magic of the film; in fact, Impossible invited a select group of photographers to give the film a whirl before anyone else had access. Photos taken by said photographers can be found on the project’s website.
Itching to get your hands on the new product? Impossible just released their PX 100 and Px 600 film today for purchase online at $21 per an eight frame pack, and plans are in the works to introduce two PX color films by summer of this year.
And don’t forget to stop by the grand opening of the Impossible Project’s Space. Set to open on April 30th, the space will be located in SoHo at 425 Broadway, and will be home to a shop as well as a gallery of photos taken by the exclusive group of photogs mentioned above. Check out some of their work – shot with the new film, of course – below:
Boris Zuliani
Grant Hamilton
Lindsay Josal
Zora Strangefields
super rad!