About Us
The Jollylook Team
We are a young Ukrainian team that loves photography and creates modern vintage style instant cameras from biodegradable materials.
Our team is a family, united by the passion for creating magic in people’s everyday lives while using eco-friendly materials and saving our planet’s ecosystem.
Capture the moment with JollyLook!
What we create
We design and handcraft vintage looking but modern instant film cameras and DIY mechanical kits
using a combination of biodegradable materials and modern electronics.
Our Story
Our first camera was the cardboard Jollylook Instant film Camera. However, over the course of its development and production, we experienced many issues.
We learned significant lessons from the development of the first Jollylook, and have taken all of those lessons and incorporated them into the way we designed our Jollylook Auto.
We created many designs of the Jollylook Auto camera until we achieved a final design that features a harmonious combination of shape and function that was easy to use, reliable and sturdy while retaining the vintage steampunk aesthetic we desired.
February 24, 2022.
The full assembly of the Jollylook cameras was to be done in our factory, which is located in Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv in our homeland of The Ukraine. But…at 5 a.m. on February 24th, Russia attacked our country, throwing everybody’s plans and dreams into chaos. On this day, our peaceful life ended and was suddenly replaced by explosions, sirens, and bomb shelters.
Our laser cutting machines were in Bucha, and our office and assembly unit with all the components was in Irpin.
Unfortunately, the laser cutting machines and the computers in Bucha were damaged.
As soon as it became possible to visit Irpin in mid-April, we were relieved to find out that our office survived.
We had to quickly pack all the components and development units and transport them to the Lviv region in the West.
Roman, the father of our teammate Kateryna, was volunteering as a driver for humanitarian aid from Lviv to Irpen.
He made a lot of trips in his minivan, and he helped us move all the components from our office to Lviv on his way back.
This process was long and dangerous because of the many unexploded bombs scattered everywhere in Irpin.
There were many known cases of people bumping into them, so to prevent the danger, the authorities regularly imposed curfews to defuse these bombs.
The restart:
Since the beginning of the war, the situation for us, like for many, was tough and unpredictable.
During March and April, we studied the possibility of restarting the production in western Ukraine or the nearest European country.
The question was in which country is it better to do it in terms of ease of doing business, taxes, availability of the suppliers we need, logistics, cost of living, etc.
We decided to restart our assembly in Zvolen, a city in the central part of Slovakia.
The people we met in Zvolen were super generous and kind and helped us find everything we needed.
We have already moved everything from Lviv to Zvolen and started the restarting.
Have found accommodation, assembly and cutting premises, laser cutting machines, plywood suppliers, boxes, and electronics manufacturers. Rented a workplace and have already started to equip it.
We hope and pray that the Russian soldiers will leave our land and our people alone.
The best thing we can do now for our families and our country is not to give up, and we won't!
All our energy was focused on re-launching our project. The work is in full swing and we are happy about that.
We then launched a Kickstarter campaign for a DIY pinhole camera kit in August, and it was successfully funded. So we are relieved to say that we were able to purchase the laser-cutting machines and fully restart our manufacturing processes.
We then ordered all the necessary parts, packaging, and equipment, and built the exhaust pipes for the laser cutting machines, and are super excited to say that we have launched mass production!
