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July 3, 2013
Berlin, Germany

Florian 'Doc' Kaps Announces Retirement From The Impossible Project

Florian 'Doc' Kaps, the popular driving force of The Impossible Project, has today announced his retirement from the Austrian-based analog photographic company he founded.

The Impossible Project rose to prominence in 2008, when it bought the last factory in the world manufacturing Polaroid film. Impossible quickly became the film brand of choice among those with a genuine love of analog instant photography and classic Polaroid cameras, thanks in no small part to Doc's entrepreneurialism and evangelistic zeal.

Headquartered in Austria, with a creative hub in Berlin, The Impossible Project now has wholly owned operations in six countries.

In August of this year the company will launch its first two camera products, the Instant Lab and the Pinhole, the development of both of which were initiated and overseen by Doc. He has been travelling almost constantly demonstrating the new products to the press, potential customers and even fellow designers. Last week, he was in Cupertino to give a talk to Apple's team on Impossible's brand values and the products that have evolved from it.

 

"It has been an exhausting few IMPOSSIBLE years," says Doc. "In the last six months, I have flown all over the world inspiring investors and customers with the future – not the past! – of analog instant photography which is embodied in our new products. I have also been offering my input and inspiration to a completely new senior management team – as well as a new creative team at our Berlin studio – so that they can continue to evolve the company and its products and keep analog instant photography relevant to younger generations."

He adds, "I hope to continue to maintain a close relationship with the company I founded and I can't wait to see the response of customers, new and old, to the products which I have helped create for it. But the time has come for me to step back for a while, spend a some much-needed time with my family, and think about other challenges I might wish to take on in the future."

His presence at the company will be greatly missed.  As Impossible's new Chief Executive Officer, C. C. O'Hanlon says, "Doc is one of the photographic industry's few genuinely colorful and charismatic figures. He has directly engaged and inspired hundreds of thousands of photographers to remain connected to analog film – not just instant film, but all formats. Without his Herculean efforts and enthusiasm, the joy of analog instant photography and the usefulness of millions of classic Polaroid cameras, would have been lost forever."

About IMPOSSIBLE

Headquartered in Vienna, with a creative studio in Berlin, IMPOSSIBLE manufactures fresh instant films for traditional Polaroid cameras at the original Polaroid production plant in Enschede, the Netherlands. Keeping variety, tangibility and creativity alive, IMPOSSIBLE prevents millions of perfectly functioning Polaroid cameras from becoming obsolete and thus changes the world of photography. www.the-impossible-project.com

Press Contact

IMPOSSIBLE INTERNATIONAL: Caidleigh Murphy, caidleigh@the-impossible- project.com, +49 30 5770 150 27