Starting Over with a Clean Slate!
almost 2 years ago – Sat, May 28, 2022 at 04:27:51 AM

Hello to All the Beautiful People of our Big Jollylook Community!

We hope you all are well, staying safe, and staying healthy.

We want to thank all of our backers. 

Thank you for your endless support and your kind words.

Thank you for believing in us.

It has been a while since our last update, and we have a lot of news and thoughts to share with you.

Probably many of you are aware of the terrible events that took place in the town of Bucha, which is only a few minutes drive from Irpin. No words can describe the pain this caused us. 

Since the beginning of the war, the situation for us, like for many, was tough and unpredictable.

Our laser cutting machines were in Bucha, and our office and assembly unit with all the components was in Irpin.

Jumping ahead, I must say we were very lucky! Although unfortunately, the laser cutting machines and the computers in Bucha were damaged. Thank God the office and everything in it survived.

In March, when the russian army invaded Irpin and Bucha, we still did not know the state of everything in our office, but it was already clear that it would not be possible to continue working in Bucha and Irpin soon. 

There was no clear answer as to what action plan to take, but we were looking for any options to save the project and did not give up. 

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. 

We were lucky once again. 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 Irpen. There were many known cases of people bumping into them, so to prevent the danger, the authorities regularly imposed curfews to defuse these bombs.

We want to once again say a massive Thank You to Roman! This wonderful, brave man.

The restart:

During March and April, we studied the possibility of restarting the production in western Ukraine or the nearest European country. 

If in Europe, then 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 considered Romania, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

After visiting all three countries and doing the research, Slovakia turned out to be the best option for restarting on all counts. 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 found accommodation, assembly and cutting premises, laser cutting machines, plywood suppliers, boxes, and electronics manufacturers.

We are now registering a company in Slovakia. In June, we plan to move everything from Lviv to Zvolen and start the restarting. We expect that we will be able to quickly recover and begin the assembly of the camera bodies in July.

Our estimated plan:

July: start cutting and assembling camera bodies.

August: First small batch assembly begins.

September: the first small batch is ready, and shipment begins.

October:  expansion of production and shipment of the second batch.

November: final batch ready and all rewards shipped.

Please note that this is the estimated plan, not the exact plan. There is a chance of a delay, and we will let you know in advance if it changes.

We hope that this horrible war ends soon. 

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 is focused on re-launching our project.

Without you, this project would not have been possible, and it will be a success because of you.

Thank you for your continued support. 

We just want peace.

Slava Ukraini!

THANK YOU!

Until next time,

The Jollylook Team.

We Pray for Ukraine!
about 2 years ago – Mon, Mar 14, 2022 at 04:35:00 AM

Hello to All the Beautiful People of our Big Jollylook Community!

We hope you all are well, staying safe, and staying healthy.

Please accept our apologies for taking so long to get in touch. We had prepared an update featuring the significant progress we had made with the Jollylook Auto and planned to release it on the 28th of February.

We had so much news that we wanted to share with you, and we were very excited to share photos of some of the many parts in production for the Jollylook Auto.

As many of you are aware, the full assembly of the units 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. 

It all happened so quickly and unexpectedly, it is still hard to believe.

On this day, our peaceful life ended and was suddenly replaced by explosions, sirens, and bomb shelters.

This war has touched all of us and destroyed many lives and homes. For the past two weeks, our sole focus has been on trying to save ourselves and our families.

Every day we pray that this nightmare, this horrible war will end soon. We hope and pray that the Russian soldiers will leave our land and our people alone.

We would like to thank all of the people from our Jollylook family who have contacted us or left messages of support. We are relieved to be able to finally advise that all of our team are currently safe, and many have escaped to Poland and other parts of Europe. We all miss our homes very much and hope to return soon. But we don't even know if there will remain a place to go back to.

This is a photo of the evacuation of civilians from Irpin.

This is the blown-up bridge that connected our city of Irpin, where our factory was located, and Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. 

 It's so dangerous in Irpin right now. There is no communication, no water, no electricity to houses and apartments. Food is in very short supply. People live in bomb shelters and try to evacuate from here as soon as possible.

 At a time like this, it is especially important for all of us to come together.

Naturally, it is very challenging to predict the future of Jollylook at the moment, but I want to reassure you all that the Jollylook team is committed to building our wonderful new Jollylook Auto camera. Naturally, with a war in our homeland and our team scattered over Europe there will be a delay in the completion of the cameras, but rest assured that we will keep you informed as to our progress and the safety of our team.

If you care about the future of Ukraine and our team, you can support us by making a donation of any amount you want or purchasing a support gift card on our website. You will be able to use it as soon as we can start shipping. This money will go to help support the members of our team left homeless by the war and needing financial assistance to feed their families.

We want to once again thank everyone who wrote to us during these difficult 14 days with words of support.

Sorry, we didn't get a chance to respond, but we've seen every message and comment on Instagram, Facebook, and our email inbox. Thank you for your kind heart.

We hope that in the nearest future the situation will clear up and we will be able to share with you our plans and strategy for the future.

Our whole team is ready to get back to work as soon as possible. 

Hopefully back home in Ukraine.

We just want peace.

Slava Ukraini!

THANK YOU!

Until next time,

The Jollylook Team.

Happy New Year and Jollylook Auto status!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Jan 05, 2022 at 08:00:46 PM

Hello to All the Beautiful People of our Big Jollylook Community!

Thank you for backing Jollylook Auto!

We hope you all are well, staying safe, and staying healthy.

This year has been full of challenges and difficulties, but we have much to be thankful for.  We want to thank you for the kind words of support you wrote in the comments of the previous update.

You inspire us to keep going no matter what. 

Sharing our latest results with you:

We have started developing an updated instruction manual on how to use our Jollylook Auto camera. It will explain in detail how to get a great photo so that even a seven-year-old can do it!

The metal focal distance rail is now ready. We were lucky to find an alternative contractor in Ukraine. The laser-cut sample below is what we received from them, we love it and the first batch is already ordered. 

Finally, the final plastic samples were delivered from China, we tested them and they fit perfectly. So we have already paid for and ordered the molds.

During this month, we tested different wood coating options and chose the one that gives the best-protecting result. This oil wax makes the wooden parts more durable, resistant to moisture, and prevents cracking on the surface. It leaves behind a hard coating and keeps the wood safe from scratches, dents, etc.

At the same time, the camera remains tactically pleasant and makes you feel like you're touching the original wood.

During this period we also assembled 3,000 Jollylook Instax Mini Development units.

 In the previous update, we shared with you the assembled Jollylook Instax Square Development unit. And now we are happy to show you the assembled and tested prototypes of the Jollylook Auto Square.

And we're also very excited to share with you the first results, the photos taken with Jollylook Auto Square:  

At this point, we have placed an order for the components and parts we need. If all goes according to plan, we should get all the parts from China by the beginning of February. But, there is a possibility of a delay due to the Chinese New Year.  While waiting for the components to arrive, we will be cutting and assembling the Jollylook Auto camera bodies, so that when the components from China arrive, we can quickly finish the assembly.

Our estimated plan:

January:  cutting and assembling camera bodies.

February: all parts arrive and the first small batch assembly begins.

March: the first small batch is ready and shipment begins.

April:  expansion of production and shipment of the second batch.

May: final batch ready and all rewards shipped.

Please note that this is the estimated plan, not the exact plan. There is a chance of a delay, and we will let you know in advance if it changes.

Thank you for your continued support. Without you, this project would not have been possible, and it will be a success because of you.

Happy New Year and Happy Holidays, and stay safe.

THANK YOU!

Until next year,

The Jollylook team.

Status of Jollylook Auto Manufacturing!
over 2 years ago – Sat, Oct 30, 2021 at 02:29:36 AM

Hello to All the Beautiful People of our Big Jollylook Community!

Thank you for backing Jollylook Auto!

We hope you all are well, staying safe, and staying healthy.

Straight to the news:

We received the samples and chose the best fitting quality woven USB cable.  

We also chose the Jollylook Cloth Bag, it's going to be an eco-friendly bag!  We ordered and received many samples of bags and picked the best one. 

We also received and tested the new version of the metal rails for the focal distance adjustment, which is working very well.

Sergey, together with the software developers, has finalized the firmware of Jollylook Auto. Tested it, and it works great with any diaphragm choice and in any lighting conditions. Below are samples of photos taken by Jollylook Auto indoor, without the flash and with different diaphragm choices.

We received all the final parts for the Jollylook Instax Square Film Development unit and assembled them.

The Square development unit works well and is ready for mass production.

Due to the world's situation, we have encountered supply chains issues that are unfortunately causing delays in production and delivery delays around the world.  

On top of the deteriorating logistics, most of our suppliers informed us that manufacturing and delivery times had increased. 

Just as an example, once we placed the order for shutters, the manufacturer came back to us and informed us that the production time increased from 4 weeks to 8 weeks, unfortunately.

We also were informed that the delivery time for some electronic components has increased from six weeks to twelve weeks. 

We are doing our best, but, unfortunately, there are factors that are out of our control.  And we have to ask you for some extra patience. 

While waiting, we are constantly working on improvements to our camera.

Our goal is to make a great camera, a quality product that you will be delighted with.

Our updated estimated plan:

December:  the first batch of parts is received and production starts.

January: the first small batch is ready and shipment begins.

February: expansion of production and shipment of the second batch.

March: final batch ready and all awards shipped.

Please note that this is the estimated plan, not the exact plan. There is a chance of a delay, and we will let you know in advance if it changes.

Thank you for your continued support. Without you, this project would not have been possible, and it will be a success because of you.

THANK YOU!

Until next time,

The Jollylook Team.

Manufacturing Update!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Sep 02, 2021 at 04:08:08 AM

Hello to All the Beautiful People of our Big Jollylook Community!

Thank you for backing Jollylook Auto!

We hope you all are well, staying safe, and staying healthy.

Today we want to share with you the results of our work for the previous month.

Finally, we received all the sample parts from China.

Most of the samples fit perfectly. Some of them need a little reworking, such as the metal rail for the focusing system. 

Its overall quality is good, but the dimension did not quite match the design. The good news is that we have already solved this issue and should be receiving the new version of the rails in the coming week.

Also, we have received all the electronic components samples from our suppliers. 

We have been testing them, and the shutter unit is also working very well.

 Here is the final shutter unit:

You asked for it, and we did it! Now the battery of Jollylook Auto will be interchangeable.

While waiting for the components to arrive from China, we found and chose new body materials to make the camera even more beautiful and tactilely pleasant.

We have tested many different materials for the bellows. Our main goal was to choose the best lightproof and, at the same time, soft fabric. And we were lucky to find great new options in lovely colors.

And finally, we assembled and tested the first fully working prototypes in the final design. We are so pleased with the result and are glad to share them with you:

Another good news is that we have a new member of our team - Victor, who is the head of the assembling team. 

What we are doing at this stage:

Sergey is working with the electronic software developers on finalizing the firmware to properly automate the operation of the shutter, to make sure each photo is perfect with any diaphragm choice and in any lighting conditions.

Here are some of the test photos taken with Jollylook Auto.

We already started laser cutting the camera bodies and will start assembling them. Once we receive the final metal samples and assure they are perfect, we will immediately order all the metal parts we need for mass production. 

Our estimated plan:

September: the first batch of parts is received and production starts.

October: the first small batch is ready and shipment begins.

November: expansion of production and shipment of the second batch.

December: final batch ready and all awards shipped.

Please note that this is the estimated plan, not the exact plan. There is a chance of a delay, and we will let you know in advance if it changes. 

Our main goal is to make a great camera with perfect mechanics and electronics, to create a quality product that you will be delighted with.

Thank you for your continued support. Without you, this project would not have been possible, and it will be a success because of you.

THANK YOU!

Until next time,

The Jollylook Team.