THE LAST POLAROID FACTORY

On June 6, 2008, the last batch of original Polaroid instant film rolled off the production line in Enschede, Netherlands. After 40 years, the chemistry that made a photograph appear in your hands — without a darkroom, without a wait — stopped forever. 1

The Enschede plant had been the global center of Polaroid film manufacturing since the 1960s. When Polaroid Corporation filed for bankruptcy a second time in 2008, the factory closed with a formal ceremony on June 14, 2008. 23

The Impossible Project later rescued the equipment — but the original chemistry, the supplier chain, and the corporate entity that invented the SX-70 were gone permanently. 45