Here’s a feature that I wrote for Pocket-lint.com following an interview with Polaroid’s MD, Graeme Chapman.

In musical terms, kooky popstrel Lady Gaga, singer-songwriter and actor Sting and rock duo The Kills haven’t got much in common, but one thing that they all share is a passion for Polaroid. In fact, Gaga is such a big fan of the cult instant-photo brand that the company recently took the unusual step of making her its creative director.

We settled down for a chat with Polaroid MD Graeme Chapman to find out more about how the brand has risen from the ashes after going bankrupt, not once but twice, and just what on earth he was thinking when he offered one of music’s most eccentric stars a seat on the board.

“Lady Gaga has introduced us to a whole new audience who’ve never experienced Polaroid before. For the 18-25 year olds, it’s a completely new thing.”

Seated on the sunny roof-top terrace of a well-known Greek restaurant in central London – a venue that has played host to The Beatles and the 1966 world cup-winning team, among others – Chapman explains that this isn’t merely a case of a celebrity slapping their name on a product – Gaga genuinely does get involved.

“She was using Polaroid cameras at her concerts – taking snaps of her audience and then handing them out to the crowd. She wanted to be involved and had some ideas that she wanted to develop. At first, she was employed as a brand ambassador but very quickly we realised that her ideas were worth pursuing and that she wanted to play an active part in developing the products, so she’s now creative director.”

The Polaroid Grey Label range is the result of the Lady Gaga collaboration and comprises three products, the first of which – the GL10 instant printer – has just been launched. Using Zink inkless printing, the compact printer can be used to print photos from your mobile phone, via USB or Bluetooth. The printer is compatible with most handsets, including Android, BlackBerry and Windows models, but not iOS devices. However, that’s something that’s set to change in the not-too-distant future.

You can read the rest of the article here on Pocket-lint.com (originally published 03/08/11).