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Taiwanese couple designs and hand makes beautiful phone and camera accesories
Today we meet a Taiwanese couple who make colorful straps that can be attached to cameras and smart phones. The couple loves travel and photography, but several years ago they noticed that there weren’t many straps in the market to choose from. In 2008, they decided to design their own. Since then, they have branched out to make phone straps, pet collars, and more. FTV reporter Stephany Yang met the couple to find out more.
This is Sofia Huang and Maxie Lee, a couple who love travel and photography. In 2008, they searched for straps to attach to their cameras, but couldn’t find many on the market that caught their eye. So, they started to make their own. These camera straps come in different designs and colors. All the materials are from Taiwan and are suited for use in Taiwan’s climate.
Maxie Lee
Co-founder
In the beginning, it was because we really liked taking pictures, but we felt there were no appealing accessories. So we used concepts related to clothing design to make camera-related accessories. Speaking of Taiwanese characteristics, our aim when we design is not just to be only a graphics application. We all know that Taiwan is a manufacturing country. When our next generation of crafters is designing products, they have to think about how to make suitable items. We spent a lot of time studying combinations of materials and working out how to improve the straps’ usability.
Sofia Huang
Co-founder
In the process of designing, we hope to convey the warmth put into making a handmade product. When we choose the fabric, we will choose something more distinctive and suitable to the climate of Taiwan. For example, we choose vegan leather, which is suitable for Taiwan’s climate. That is, it won’t cause mold or cleaning problems. It is also relatively comfortable to use.
Before making camera straps, Sofia was a project planner, and Maxie, was a product designer. They said creating these straps was very laborious and required lots of hard work, but due to their passion for travel, they persevered, and continued with their innovative ideas and the creation of new products. In 2013, they decided to branch out and make straps that can be attached to phones. All of their products are handmade.
Maxie Lee
Co-founder
After customers came, we found that over the past few years, demand for cameras changed to demand for mobile phones, so we gradually extended our designs to different product lines. Now we have some mobile phone accessories. We know people are highly dependent on mobile phones in Taiwan. Compared to mass-produced items made by machines, we have to spend a lot more time making our products. We want each piece or leather item to be in different colors, so the time invested is longer than ordinary mass-produced products.
Sofia Huang
Co-founder
We really do it all by hand. We need to be clear about our goals and direction. When we adhere to the branding route, the quality, production, and even style and demands we place on ourselves have to be at an even higher level.
The two are also cat lovers. In 2022, they began designing collars for cats in hopes of creating comfortable and eye-catching collars for their furry friends.
Sofia Huang
Co-founder
We have cats in our family, and we couldn’t find good-looking collars that we liked for them. That’s why we created them ourselves. We used mountain climbing ropes to make it cooler for a cat to wear. Then, they’re more cat-friendly and easier to use. It is different from the traditional cat leads with the buckles.
Maxie Lee
Co-founder
Consumers in Taiwan are very friendly, and they are also very willing to try new things. They just want products with different styles or qualities. So we have started to shape a brand with a different personality in the past two to three years
The designers say they get their inspiration from their daily lives and travel. They hope to continue to make colorful and beautiful designs to help people travel both safely and fashionably.
2022-12-07
