When I think about Zebra turning four today, my mind goes all the way back to my days as a student at the School of Arts. Back then, I spent endless hours in my container darkroom working on my bachelor’s degree, studying and recreating Autochrome Lumière. I can still remember the smell of chemicals, the quiet hum of the ventilation, and the feeling of carefully holding a fragile glass plate in my hands.

Seeing that first faint image appear on glass felt like magic. It was a moment that changed everything. I fell completely in love with the process, the slowness, the precision and the luminous beauty of it. From then on, I knew I didn’t just want to study these early photographic techniques. I wanted to live with them.

After finishing my studies, I never stopped experimenting. I kept exploring historical processes, with a special fascination for dry plates. It wasn’t just nostalgia. For me, it was about the deep connection between light, chemistry and human hands. It was about making something real and lasting.

Eventually, I began sharing my experiments on YouTube through my channel Lost Light Art. I didn’t expect much. I was just documenting what I loved. But people from around the world began watching, asking questions and sharing the same excitement. That was when I realized I wasn’t alone in this passion.

Then the pandemic came and my job in tourism vanished overnight. Suddenly, I was at a crossroads. I could wait for things to return to normal or I could take a leap and give this dream everything I had.

I decided to try. I started offering my hand-coated glass plates to others. Not long after, I shipped out the very first box of Zebra Dry Plates. I can still remember holding that box in my hands, knowing it carried so much more than just glass. That was the moment Zebra was born.

From there, everything began to grow. I designed my first plate holder and drying rack, printing early prototypes on a small 3D printer. They were rough at first, but they worked. I spent countless nights improving them, testing, learning and slowly building something real. When I compare those early designs to what we make today, it feels like looking at two completely different worlds.

I expanded my small workshop, connected with people who shared the same love for this craft and eventually launched our first Kickstarter campaign for the Zebra Sensitising Tank. That campaign was funded more than 400% and marked a turning point. It was no longer just me. It became we. The response from the community showed us that there were so many people out there who believed in the same magic.

After the success of our first products, the Zebra Standard Dry Plates,Zebra plate holder and Zebra Drying Rack, we began to develop many new tools and accessories for analog photographers. One of the most exciting steps was the introduction of direct positive dry plate tintypes.

Compared to the classic wet plate process, these tintypes offer incredible stability and ease of use. There is no need for a portable darkroom, the plates can be stored for long periods, and exposure is more predictable and consistent. Yet the result is just as magical. The tonal range is rich, the silver layer is deep and luminous, and the final image has that unique presence only glass or metal can give. It is a process that preserves the aesthetic of 19th-century photography while making it more accessible to today’s artists.

Then came one of my personal favorite milestones: the Zebra Golden Dry Plate Tintypes. They shimmer with a warm golden tone and offer a different emotional quality than classic black tintypes. Seeing photographers around the world use them for portraits, landscapes and creative work has been a true joy.

This past year, we also made a big leap behind the scenes. We renovated and expanded our workshop space, built a new darkroom and finally brought our custom-built coating machine to life. It is our biggest investment so far and allows us to coat plates with precision and consistency while keeping the handcrafted character that makes Zebra special.

We also launched our second Kickstarter campaign for the Zebra Daylight Processing Tank. Once again, the support from the community was incredible. Knowing that so many people trust and believe in what we are creating is one of the most rewarding parts of this journey.

By this time, Zebra plates were already traveling to photographers across the globe, from small home darkrooms to professional studios. Our community grew, and with it, our team. More hands joined the workbench, more ideas were shared and the dream became something bigger than any single person.

These past four years have been full of long nights, endless testing, failed experiments that turned into breakthroughs and countless quiet moments of joy. What began as a student project slowly became a workshop, a brand, a movement and a family.

And this is only the beginning. Our future plans are just as ambitious. We are working on our very own 4×5 camera, something we are extremely excited about. We plan to offer online workshops to share the craft with more people worldwide and to produce plates with different spectral sensitivities, giving photographers even more creative options. We also want to expand our chemical offer, including materials for wet plate photographers, so that Zebra becomes a complete source for analog plate photography.

We are endlessly grateful to everyone who has supported Zebra, whether by buying plates, backing a campaign, sharing their work or simply sending a kind message. You have made this journey real.

Our mission hasn’t changed. We still believe in producing high-quality plates and equipment and we will keep fighting to keep plate photography alive. This craft is fragile, beautiful and worth preserving.

Here’s to many more years of creating, experimenting and keeping the magic of glass alive together. 🖤

If you’d like to support what we do and keep this craft growing, you can explore our products in our Zebra shop!