hen Polaroid Corp. shuttered its long-time lines of cameras and film, many believed the inventor of instant photography would be shuttering its doors, too. So to convince attendees at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) it was still in the picture, the Minnetonka, MN-based company developed an exhibit that put its new products, from instant digital cameras to inkless printers, into sharp focus.

Designed by Skyline Exhibits' International Design Center in St. Paul, MN, the 80-by-88-foot booth mixed traditional materials to honor the past with outré ones to celebrate the future. For example, a rectangular ceiling element, hanging 26 feet above the floor from a truss, was made of reclaimed, weathered wood from a Minnesota barn. The 51-by-51-foot structure included a vertical video section extending down to the floor; two video screens attached to the extension displayed a mix of still and moving images. Elsewhere in the booth, Polaroid positioned four display tables constructed of rough barn board. The tables held the new wave of Polaroid products, such as 3-D video cameras and 3-D glasses. They also displayed the new Grey Label line of products, including camera-embedded glasses and a mobile printer, whose design was influenced by Polaroid's creative director, Lady Gaga.

The futuristic Polaroid Grey Label lounge in the back of the booth was as different from the rest of the exhibit as digital pixels are from celluloid film. Measuring roughly 30-by-23 feet, the lounge was constructed from 2,158 interconnected laser-cut, acrylic triangles adhered to industrial felt. Looking like fungal origami, the lounge served as an exclusive space in which to present the Grey Label products to VIPs and the media.

The results were nearly as instant as Polaroid's iconic photographs: The exhibit generated 1.7 billion media impressions, up about 126 percent from 750 million the year before at CES. For Polaroid, the future seems anything but negative.e