Dear Packfilm Saviors,
It's been a challenging spring and summer for, well... basically everyone on Earth I guess. But in spite of all the doom and gloom, the ONE INSTANT team would like to brighten things up with a bit of good news.
This September we have officially completed our inaugural Kickstarter campaign, which saw over 2000 backers receiving nearly 20,000 ONE INSTANT film cartridges. This represents a giant step towards a long-term future for peel-apart instant film, and although I'll admit we didn't win any awards for speediness, our belief is that slow and steady always wins the race!
The community behind us makes this all possible, and they (you!) cannot be thanked enough. The support, the encouragement, and most importantly the photographs from the last year and a half have been amazing. Thank you all!
As we rush to finish up the final North & South American pre-orders, which will be leaving Europe September 30th, to be distributed by Retrospekt in early October, we'd like to do something to celebrate...
We've teamed up with our friend (and talented ceramicist) Rici @ricisart to screenprint some very special ONE INSTANT t-shirts and bags, with all profits going directly to support our efforts to save packfilm.
There's a number of things that make these bags & shirts so special. For starters, Rici has sourced top quality fair-trade gear, and uses only eco-friendly inks. As you'd expect, every piece will be hand printed in the SUPERSENSE manufactory.
But what we think is one of the coolest things is how we made the design itself. Lemme explain...
Screenprint/Silkscreen 101: A screenprinting screen is produced by coating a fine cloth mesh with a light-sensitive emulsion. This coating hardens when exposed to UV light, rendering it insoluble. When certain parts are protected from the UV light, they remain soluble and can be washed away later. With this simple technique, you can expose a screen to almost any kind of pattern or image, wash away the soluble aprts, and voila, you have created a printing matrix that allows ink to pass through in some places and not in others.
So typically these days, people are using digital intermediates to accomplish this, but we've opted for a decidedly more analog approach...
Using actual ONE INSTANT production parts!
The parts were simply laid out on the screen and we flicked on the exposure lamp. We then had a perfect 1:1 contact print of our parts on the screen, which means, if you wanna get philosophical, that when you get your shirt or bag, it has been in direct contact with a screen that was in direct contact with our production parts here in Vienna. Jeez, it's like you were basically here!
But seriously, we wanted a design that celebrated the step-by-step way that ONE INSTANT is being developed and assembled. We wanted a tangible reminder that our product is truly made ONE INSTANT AT A TIME. We also thought this line was a cool bit of Lebensweisheit.
Now to be honest, we're not sure what to expect with this foray into the world of apparel. We're not exactly a clothing company, and because of that, we've decided to dip our feet in slowly and test the waters a bit.
What that means is, we'll be offering the t-shirts and bags for a limited time only. About 2 weeks. Then, once all the orders are placed, we will order precisely the materials we need, print them all, and get them shipped out within 4 weeks.
Now I know what you're thinking.... is this going to be another long and drawn out pre-order process?! The answer is NO. Scout's promise. Rici is a pro, and we're all set up to rock as soon as the orders are in.
If you're reading this, the t-shirts and bags are already for sale on our website, and the sale will end at 11:59pm on Sunday, October 11th, PDT (that's Pacific Daylight Time, or UTC -7).
If this sale is a success and people actually like our funky shirts and bags, we will definitely keep doing it. We're already dreaming up new designs... and of course we'd love to hear your input! As always, feel free to write to tech-support@one-instant.com for any and all ONE INSTANT related things.
Well, as I am wont to do, I've said enough by now... but get 'em while you can, get 'em while they're hot, get 'em while they're still wet & drying, and tell your friends!
On behalf of the whole ONE INSTANT and SUPERSENSE team,
Instantly Yours,
Chris
ONE INSTANT Production Manager