Polaroid goes (Lady) Gaga

“Polaroid and its Creative Director, Lady Gaga”” may read like a misprint, but the current first lady of pop is the ancient camera brand’s new figurehead for innovation. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, she helped them unveil Polaroid Grey Label, a line of products that they say was co-designed with her. Lady Gaga says her own mission is to deliver products that enable creativity for all, celebrate artistry and make sharing instantaneous across the physical and digital. The Gaga-esque GL10 Instant Mobile Printer, GL30 Instant Digital Camera and the GL20 Camera Glasses are on display at CES.

Polaroid and its Creative Director, Lady Gaga this week unveiled Polaroid Grey Label, an original line of products co-designed with Lady Gaga. This collaboration between two cultural icons reflects Polaroid’s long standing tradition of innovation tracing back to founder Dr. Edwin Land and Lady Gaga’s mission to deliver products that enable creativity for all, celebrate artistry and make sharing instantaneous across the physical and digital. The inaugural Polaroid Grey Label line is truly expressive of Lady Gaga’s artistic vision and includes the GL10 Instant Mobile Printer, GL30 Instant Digital Camera and the GL20 Camera Glasses, a unique new look at how to turn images into a fashion statement. ‚I consider myself to be a visionary, not just a songwriter and a singer. I am an artist,”” said Lady Gaga, Polaroid’s Creative Director. “”I brought my vision and love of fashion, technology and obsession with the future into all of my work with Polaroid.‚

Polaroid Grey Label Products Polaroid and Lady Gaga today unveiled the first trio of Polaroid Grey Label products at Polaroid’s CES booth: 1. GL10 Instant Mobile Printer: ‚Ä¢ Advanced Technology: The newest instant printing experience begins with the embedded dye-crystal ZINK Zero Ink Technology from ZINK Imaging. Patented ZINK Paper is an advanced composite material with cyan, yellow, and magenta dye crystals embedded inside. Before printing, the embedded dye crystals are clear, so ZINK Paper, looks like regular white photo paper. The GL10 Instant Mobile Printer uses heat to activate and colorize these crystals.

‚Ä¢ Superb Print Quality: The GL10 Instant Mobile Printer uses ZINK’s second-generation thermal technology, delivering image quality that rivals a photo-lab. Prints emerge fully developed and protected by a smudge-proof, water-resistant coating.

‚Ä¢ Aesthetically Pleasing and Environmentally Responsible: Designed for both form and function for use both in the present and future. ZINK technology requires no messy ribbons, toner or inkjet cartridges. The GL10 Instant Mobile Printer will be available in May 2011 (US $149.99 MSRP). ZINK 3×4‚ Paper will be available in May 2011 at a price to be announced. 2. GL30 Instant Digital Camera: ‚Ä¢ Brings the Polaroid Instant Experience to Life: Introducing a new generation to the joy of instant photography, the GL30 uses next generation ZINK Zero Ink Technology from ZINK Imaging.

• Fuses the Digital and Physical Worlds: Featuring the benefits of a digital camera, instant photo printer and digital display, the GL30 is a creative tool that delivers the best of the digital and physical worlds.

‚Ä¢ Pays Tribute to Polaroid’s Legacy: Reminiscent of Polaroid cameras of the past, the GL30 is clearly a significant departure from a typical camera. Designed for longevity, the GL30 is not only for the future, it’s an object of desire. Users can select from a number of filters and borders to create truly original images that instantly fit in the palm of your hand. The GL30 Instant Digital Camera will be available later this year, at a price to be announced. 3. GL20 Camera Glasses: ‚Ä¢ Merges Fashion With Photography: Never before has the world seen fashion, photography and technology come together in one, singular product.

‚Ä¢ Tells Your Story to the World: Users can instantly capture or upload photos with the built-in camera and then display the images on the glasses’ LCD screens for others to see.

‚Ä¢ Expresses True Artistry and Originality: Only Lady Gaga could create a hybrid that’s part fashion statement, part revolutionary technology and part tool for self-expression. The GL20 Camera Glasses will be available later this year, at a price to be announced. The Polaroid Grey Label Evolution After being named Polaroid’s Creative Director in January 2010, Lady Gaga and Polaroid collaborated to define a direction for the line that blended the brand’s core values with Lady Gaga’s creativity. Stemming from ‚greige goods,‚ a fashion-industry term for fabric in its purest form, the Polaroid Grey Label line encompasses Polaroid’s heritage of delivering simplicity with the style, wit and sensibility of Lady Gaga. Committed to bringing originality back to product design across all genres, Lady Gaga articulated that all Polaroid Grey Label products communicate three essential elements of self-expression: ‚Ä¢ Creativity: All Polaroid Grey Label products are designed with the idea that creativity and sharing go hand in hand, in both the digital and the physical world.

• Instant Artistry: All features found in Polaroid Grey Label products celebrate, express and bring an element of artistry and originality to the act of image making.

‚Ä¢ Fashion: Intended to be just as much everyday fashion accessories as innovative imaging tools, all Polaroid Grey Label products feature unexpected design elements such as leather touch points, brushed metal and exposed mechanical details. ‚The Polaroid Grey Label line embodies the Polaroid brand, with an injection of the future-looking fashion and design mantra of Lady Gaga that simply can’t be replicated,‚ said Scott W. Hardy, Polaroid’s President. ‚It represents Polaroid innovation for the new generation, one in which there are no limitations to sharing creativity through photography, both physical and digital.‚

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