Solarcan Colours transforms recycled aluminum cans into colorful sun-capturing cameras
24 Nov 2020 --- Solarcan Colours is turning 440 mL metal cans made from recycled aluminum into colorful cameras that capture the sun’s light as it travels across the sky via extreme-time exposures.
Continuing a first-gen project from three years ago, the revamped version will arrive in three different colors – on the inside and out.
The official launch is 10 days away from completing its Kickstarter campaign, which exceeded its initial £5,000 (US$6,700) target in the first four days.
Creator Sam Cornwell reveals the cans’ secrets to PackagingInsights, detailing how he sees packaging through a different lens.
How does it work?
Inside the new Solarcans Eldorado, Atlantis and Nebula are 5 x 7” sheets of Ilford photographic paper. Peeling away the protective black tab reveals the pinhole lens, allowing light to pass through.
Every day, the sun rises slightly higher or lower depending on the season and creates a new path. Over weeks, months or even years, the light will gradually scorch the path the sun takes through the sky and a star-struck image will begin to form inside the Solarcan.
One of three new product launches, Solarcan Nebula produces a striking, duotone picture of the sun and landscape.Since the Solarcan is machine-sealed, no liquid will pass through and damage the paper inside.
Once users “run out of patience,” they can remove the photographic paper from inside the can, scan with a camera and invert to see the final image.
A rough start
When Cornwell first set out with Solarcan, his friends and family were thrilled, but commercially Solarcan didn’t stand a chance.
“That’s when I realized it has to be turned into a product that when people saw – even though they didn’t quite understand what it was – they just wanted to buy it. It had to look beautiful if [potential customers] wanted to purchase it.”
PackagingInsights previously interviewed packaging design experts on consumers’ “magpie mentality” and the power of instant, attention-grabbing packaging aesthetics.
Secondary packaging first
What followed were rigorous investments in the secondary packaging for the cans’ shipment.
“The whole thing from start to finish – from setting up to using it – is an experience. I wanted the Solarcan experience to start when it arrives through the letterbox to your door, so the packaging needed to be beautiful when you’re looking at it.”
Cornwell even admits he invests more in the packaging than on the camera materials. “It’s really about the experience.”
Innova Market Insights points out how the consumer unboxing experience and so-called “wow factor” effects are increasingly playing out within the wider context of environmental sustainability demands.
Notably, the market researcher predicted the e-commerce trend would accelerate earlier this year when crowning “Packing an e-Punch” as its third top trend.
Solarcans will be shipped out earlier next year in plastic-free, fully cardboard-based tubes, including an on-pack image of the product and a manual with community updates and other users’ images.
A Nebula-created image at a six-month exposure of the sun passing over Cornwell’s back garden.From North to South Pole
In the past year, Cornwell says he has been “blown away” by nearly daily images tracking circadian cycles in hundreds of countries.
“In the last year, I’ve had images sent from Antarctica and the Arctic. I’ve had one person send Solarcan up into space using a weather balloon – this is just the community trying out different things.”
There is no bigger motive behind Solarcan Colours than community, says Cornwell.
The idea is for the community to get excited about the shared images and feel connected across the globe while learning more about photography and astronomy. “I just like to carry on building on that.”
Aluminum sets recycling pace
Whenever users take out their photographs, they can either replace the cans’ inner photographic paper to reuse the can or recycle the can in standard metal recycling infrastructure.
With a master’s degree in material practice from Edinburgh University, Cornwell is “very conscious” of the materials’ recyclability. He doesn’t view aluminum as part of the single-use packaging problem.
“I think other materials are a problem. I think that aluminum as a closed-loop system is as good as the battery industry, where 100 percent of that material goes back and gets recycled.”
He’d like to see other material industries like cardboard or plastic take the lead from aluminum to close the loop. Moreover, he encourages recycling within the Solarcan community on social media.
The Solarcan community is growing: A Solarcan enthusiast set up a Solarcan overlooking the Rothera Research Station, Antarctica.“Not normal” on Kickstarter
Solarcan Colours’ campaign has already reached just over £12,600 (US$16,820). Notably, the initial gray-scaled Solarcan kickoff reached tenfold its £2,500 (US$3,300) goal back in 2017.
“I don’t think it’s normal [to be funded so quickly]. I think it really depends on the product,” says Cornwell.
In a conversation with Kickstarter two weeks ago, Cornwell heard from a company management executive that she had been following Solarcan for three years and it was in the top four Kickstarters she’d ever seen. “You can’t buy that sort of praise.”
By Anni Schleicher
