Earlier this year I interviewed Impossible Project Co-founder Florean Kaps for my article in Now Then Magazine about rise of analogue media and the business opportunities it presents to those with vision and commitment to a project.

“We see our products creating and forming a unique niche market for passionate people, who choose our products besides everything the digital market is offering them.” Florean Kaps, Impossible Project co-founder.

Its snapshot heritage is steeped in the nostalgia of the coffee table photo album, its square edges capturing the faded sepia tones of childhood and the painterly sun-drenched landscapes of winding road trips. The instant clunk and wind of a Polaroid camera, a sturdy and mechanical action reassuring in its weighty process, will be warmly familiar to many. The tool of the day-tripper, artist and designer alike, the Polaroid camera and its instant film opened up a whole new world of photography to anyone who could afford it. Launched in 1948, this pioneering format revolutionised photography, flying high and seemingly triumphant. But of course the photographic revolution did not end with the development of instant film and with the advance of digital imaging Polaroid found their position to be shifting. Technologically savvy customers could now dispense with the need for the comparatively expensive Polaroid film and print their images at home.

So it seemed the end of instant film was in sight. After a number of turbulent years, Polaroid announced in 2008 that it would cease production of its film and close its last plant in Enschede, the Netherlands. And there the story would have ended were it not for the insight of two of Polaroid’s closest allies.

Enter Florean Kaps and Andre Bosman, founders of The Impossible Project. Florean, a leading manager of the Lomographic Society credited with developing their worldwide online community and shopping platform, and Andre, an engineering manager who had been with Polaroid since 1980, came together at the closing event of the Polaroid factory in Enschede. While others were toasting the end of an era the two entrepreneurs were developing plans to breathe new life into a product that had seemingly been left for dead.

As a large-scale Polaroid production unit the original factory, capable of manufacturing anything up to ten million film packs a year and supporting 5,000 members of staff, could not sustain itself within the now much smaller marketplace. By shrinking output and redesigning production processes The Impossible Project team could create a new, viable and sustainable business model set to cater for the dedicated consumer group that had become loyal users of the product. It was with this vision that they managed to secure a capital investment of €2 million to re-establish the business.

Fast forward to 2011 and contrary to first impressions The Impossible Project is not a story of nostalgic renaissance, but a testament to the foresight of its business savvy founders. The analogue market is a booming niche. From vinyl records to the shelves of the indie bookstore, consumers are regrouping from the scatter shot effect created by the internet – a place where unlimited access has made every aspect of life ripe for digital pixilation, all content and form transplanted into a binary simulation.

There is an evolution happening that is creating symbiotic communities in which the internet provides a forum for exchanging stories and ideas that are firmly grounded in the physical, and it’s here that Florean sees potential: “The digital elements allowed us in the very beginning to create and reach out to a dedicated worldwide community that we started building in 2005 on Polanoid.net as the first Polaroid-only online picture community and Unsaleable.com, the very first online shop for analogue instant film only. Next year TIP will finally present some Impossible tools that for the very first time will further merge and connect the most analogue material in photography with the needs and expectations of modern digital users.”

In a world previously dominated by the consumptive experience, people are looking for experiential connection with the products they choose to buy. These one-off originals created on Impossible Project film elevate the everyday camera into an object of art creation. The exclusivity of these single frame productions makes this a tool far removed from the continuously winking eye of the digital camera.

“We see our products creating and forming a unique niche market for passionate people, who choose our products besides everything the digital market is offering them. Just as vinyl speaks to a dedicated crowd of music fans, the Impossible products speak to a dedicated crowd of photography fans. Impossible is made for everybody who is interested in real photography and who is in love with real pictures,” Florean adds.

The Impossible Project illustrates how there is plenty of room in the marketplace for both digital and analogue. Moreover, there is a wealth of opportunity in niche and specialist markets for those who clearly understand their customer. Florean and Andre seem perfectly placed to take on and transform the heritage of instant film, both possessing a deep product knowledge and understanding of its loyal followers.

It will be interesting to see how new Impossible products and services go on to shape and support this community’s growing connectivity. For now it’s reassuring to see that with passion and a clear vision business ideas can be reborn and creativity can once again develop in the palm of your hand.

For the full article and images head over to Now Then

It really doesn’t need any more words than that really. Enjoy.

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Some interesting projects that have caught my eye include What Was There a social history project where users upload personal images and map the events and stories which happen within their towns and cities. On a larger scale RDTN.org is interactive map documenting radiation levels across Japan after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster. The project pulls information from the The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the and the US Environmental Protection Agency along with citizen updated radiation level readings (geiger counter anyone?) to produce an accurate, multi source map that is being constantly updated.

The key to the success of these projects is local participation. On its own, one persons story on What Was There is a whimsical online diary. Collated with thousands of other stories a picture begins to emerge of time and place, and connects people to events in ways previously confined to personal networks and happen chance conversations in the local cafe.

Starting local - Crate Space mapping. Starting off as a small weekend project and inspired by usefulness of these tools I built the Crate Space wifi map to fill a gap, having just purchased a new shiny laptop I had nested myself into one of the only places in Sheffield I new to have wifi The showroom Cinema. I often have client meeting in there and see familiar faces dropping in to do the same or to pull out their laptops to do an hours work. I did some research on how I could find out where the wifi and business friendly hotspots are in Sheffield and saw there was no one reliable and up to date source of information. So I set about creating one.

Cratespace.co is in Beta and getting good feedback, live for only a couple of weeks the project has sparked lots of interesting conversation both here at Huella and in the wider community about collaborative working and how we could build on the map to include local hot desk and resource sharing projects, ultimately connecting and opening out Sheffield’s hubs to meet, work, connect and create.

The reason I get excited about projects like this is because they ignore old models and change the way we think about doing business. The quietly understood mantra of old is to ‘get yours before you give back’ here people are encouraged to think about giving from the outset, where the connection to the cause can be promoted whilst entrepreneurs are busy working on the success of their businesses.

This model is adaptable and ripe for interpretation across all types of business. You don’t have to be a highly financed start up to embed creative philanthropy into your business model. In 2010 my company Wanderlust – the home for Huella and its spin of projects gave 50% of all revenue from the sale of our Earth Prints in the Wandelrust Gallery to Medicines San Frontiers. Established Sheffield based smart geek company Technophobia have this month launched their Technophobeer beer working with the  Blue Beer Brewery to raise funds for Movember. The (i’m told!) fine ale can be bought at the Rutland Arms here in Sheffield, pop down and grab a pint and maybe chat to the locals about the creative ways you are going to give something back through your business.

In short creativity is still seen by many as ‘other’ as the provision of the artists and people in the marketing department. Sounds like an old school stereotype but unfortunately its not. I am lucky enough to work with a number of talented and passionate creative individuals who run dynamic and innovative small companies, but I am aware that this is a bubble. A bubble that sits next to other bubbles like traditional manufacturing or large sections of the service industry for example.

We (the creatives) see a bright 2.0 future where self actualised people design world changing products and services, constantly creating new ways to reinvent old means, fearlessly pushing at boundaries and dreaming up ways to connect and share and co-operate. This is the new economy and its not neccisealy based on economics. The new economy is based on ideas and this is scary for world 1.0, the old world of manufacturing and production lines, of cold calling and shoddy service design.

The reason its scary is because world 1.0 doesn’t understand creativity. It doesn’t understand autonomy and the power of individuals to dream of better ways of doing things. So how do we change this? We EDUCATE. We educate our children not to be autobots churning out algebra, or to be equipped with only enough skills to change to till roll in a cash desk. We need to educate our children to dream and to play, to try out ideas and test their skills for imagining and to do it all over again when things don’t work out.

Creativity is not ‘other’ it is I. Fear of failure and strict codes of conformity in our schools and workplaces have left us with a deficit of bright, willing and creative thinkers. I feel very privileged to consider myself a creative, but it really shouldn’t be one.

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He developed the burgeoning idea of permission marketing and refined the thesis in his book Permission marketing: turning strangers into friends, and friends into customers 1999. Permission marketing being the antithesis to interruption marketing, making a call for the end of spamming and traditional commercial media to be replaced with a more interactive, reciprocal and relationship based interaction.

Since then he has gone on to produce some 13 more books on branding and  marketing covering ideas from anthropology, social theory, psychology and cultural theory to name a few. One of the reasons I enjoy listening to Seth Godins ideas – I opt for audiobooks – is that they are accessible, they are not unnecessarily bogged down in academic language with heavy systems analysis or complex matrix to scowl over. The thoughts and theories presented offer an insight into the world of future marketing and put the tools for its creation right in your hands. This is no quick fix for depth of knowledge and vision for your product or service but its a great place to start from.

Seth Godin The Tribes We Lead

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Heres a taster (also a plug for Google+) but a great story all the same.

The Dalai Lama’s Social Network Of Choice

“A few weeks ago, the Dalai Lama was invited to Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday party. The South African government, however, had other ideas, and denied him a visa to visit the country. The government refused to give an answer, but many pointed fingers at the Chinese government, which has enormous industrial interests in the country and isn’t too pleased when the Dalai Lama visits anywhere.

In a discussion from Fast Company‘s Masters of Design event in New York, Robert Wong, the executive creative director of Google Creative Labs, talked to senior editor Linda Tischler about how this impasse resulted in two new famous Google+ users.”

Watch the video here

[image Fast Co]

Each speaker takes us on a journey through there personal, business, and ideological story presenting weighty ideas to chew on a light hearted anecdotes to have a laugh at. There’s real insight here for those of us intent on getting out there and Doing things for ourselves. The message is clear. With each interaction, connection, and creative thought that you have Do something that will turn ideas into brilliant realities. Develop it, mix it up a bit, share it around and get it out there. What ever it is that you are doing. Do it.

Why The Best Companies Make You Feel Something. John Kearon Founder of BrainJuicer.

That said although not documented widely in terms of contribution women played a key role on the development of scientific inquiry. The first woman to attend a meeting of the Royal Society was Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle, in May 1667. Caroline Herschel in August 1786 was the first women to be published in Philosophical Transactions the paper was snappily titled  ”An Account of a new Comet, in a letter from Miss Caroline Herschel to Mr Charles Blagden MD, Secretary to the Royal Society”. A dig through the inspiring achieves will undoubtedly uncover more of these fascinating details in the development of this hugely influential institution.

The Royal Society’s has opened its archive to coincide with the start of Open Access week a global event now entering its 5th year, encouraging open participation to promote ”free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need [which, in tern] has the power to transform the way research and scientific inquiry are conducted”

Find more here about Open Access week

Enjoy a search through the Royal Society archives here

Sources (Wikipedia, Guardian 2010, Margaret Cavendish Society, Royal Society, Caroline Herschel )

Huella have launched a new tool for entrepreneurs and start ups across the city of Sheffield. Crate Space has been developed to maximize on limited resources and highlights great places to meet, work, connect and create. Based on the idea of collaborative consumption the aim is to make use of the coffee shops, cafe bars, gallery spaces and public access spaces in sheffield to do our business. Whether it be to spend a few hours catching up on important emails or meeting up with co-workers for a working lunch, the interactive map highlights the best spots and provides information and contact details to pass on to friends and associates.

Crate Space is in beta development, we are looking for your space suggestions and comments to help build a useful tool to support flexible and networked working. Pop over and say hello.

Visit Crate Space at http://cratespace.co

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