WhereIsAtlas · Photography

Polaroid

The instant-photo pioneer that went bankrupt twice — and was reborn out of a project to keep its film alive

Transformed — The company that invented instant photography and defined a generation of snapshots, Polaroid collapsed twice — but was reborn out of The Impossible Project, which kept its instant film alive and now carries the Polaroid name.

Polaroid was founded in 1937 by Edwin Land, a visionary inventor who built the company on a simple idea: a photograph you could hold in your hand moments after taking it, developed instantly in a single step. The Polaroid Land Camera was a miracle of its era, and the company became an American icon. Its instant-film cameras and peel-apart photos defined memories for generations, and Edwin Land became one of the most celebrated inventors of the 20th century.

The company's fortunes turned as digital photography took over in the late 1990s and 2000s. Consumers abandoned film, and Polaroid — tied to its film and instant-photo business — was hit hard. It filed for bankruptcy in 2001, then again in 2008. The Polaroid brand and its instant-film patents were sold several times.

But Polaroid's story did not end there. In 2008, a group of former Polaroid engineers and enthusiasts launched The Impossible Project, dedicated to saving Polaroid's instant-film technology. They bought a decommissioned Polaroid plant and rebuilt the film production line from scratch. That project so successfully revived instant film that in 2017 it acquired the Polaroid brand itself, bringing the name back to life and launching a new generation of Polaroid cameras and the impossible-company heirloom that is the modern Polaroid.

Quick facts

Founded
1937, by Edwin Land
Signature
Instant photography (single-step film)
Founder
Edwin Land (inventor)
Bankruptcies
2001, and again 2008
The rescue
The Impossible Project (2008)
Reborn under Polaroid name
2017
Today
Retro instant-photo brand, beloved again

Lineage — where the name went

Polaroid is the clearest case of a brand outliving its company: the corporation went bankrupt in 2001 and again in 2008, while the name passed through several owners and was finally bought back by the people who refused to let its film die.

  1. 1937 — Edwin Land founded Polaroid Corporation
  2. 1948 — Polaroid Corporation created Model 95 Land Camera (first instant camera)
  3. 1972 — Polaroid Corporation created SX-70
  4. 1937 — Polaroid Corporation created Polaroid (the name belonged to the company until 2001)
  5. 2002 — Polaroid acquired by One Equity Partners (assets bought out of bankruptcy)
  6. 2005 — Polaroid acquired by Petters Group Worldwide
  7. 2009 — Polaroid acquired by Hilco & Gordon Brothers (after Petters' fraud conviction)
  8. 2017 — The Impossible Project rebranded as Polaroid Originals
  9. 2017 — Polaroid acquired by Polaroid Originals (the film-makers bought the name)

Entities in this tree: Edwin Land (person, 1937); Polaroid Corporation (company, 1937); Model 95 Land Camera (product, 1948); SX-70 (product, 1972); Polaroid (brand, 1937); One Equity Partners (company, 2002); Petters Group Worldwide (company, 2005); Hilco & Gordon Brothers (company, 2009); The Impossible Project (company, 2008); Polaroid Originals (company, 2017)

Sources

  1. Polaroid - Wikipedia — Wikipedia (2026-09-04)
  2. Polaroid is reborn out of The Impossible Project — TechCrunch (2026-09-04)

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