The straps are offered in variable lengths and widths, are robust and stylish, come in limited designs and simply look good. Clients can choose from a wide array of different designs ranging from classical over elegant to urban designs. Strapstar constantly adds new designs to its lineup. We have asked to Sebastien, one of the 2 guys behind Strapstar, some questions.
1. Where does this idea come from?
One of the two people involved in Strapstar is a passionate amateur photographer and journalist who was fed up with the fact that most camera straps – even the ones of professional DSLRs – only come in a very short length. Since the other person involved in Strapstar is a fashion designer, the idea was to produce a longer camera strap. While tinkering with that idea we thought, that with the emergence of flickr and similar services and the price drop in camera prices, photography had become more and more of a lifestyle for many people. Especially inspired by urban exploration with likeminded photographers we thought that for some people, their camera was not only a tool but had become something of a fashion statement. In that sense it was possible to create a product which was not only very useful (longer straps which allow to carry the camera across the chest) but which would look great as well. We decided to limit each design to a certain amount of straps in order to keep the products fairly individual and actually created the first prototypes one and a half years ago. Due to the technical complexity of a webshop and the legal issues in Germany, we only went live with a beta of the shop in the middle of December 2009.
2. Are you involved in photography?
Working as a journalist, I deal with photography professionally as well. Nevertheless it started and still is primarily a passion. When shooting privately I especially like urban exploration, architecture, abstract photography and abandoned industrial ruins. Recently I rediscovered my passion for analogue photography and am hooked on several lomographic cameras.
We actually have a few other ideas up our sleeves. Of course I cannot talk about all of them at the moment. We are working hard on bringing an English version of the shop online but still have to figure out some legal issues for international trade. On top of that we will soon integrate Strapties in our shop. Strapties are completely unique camera straps made from old ties – so each strap will only exist once. We have already produced the first hand full of Strapties and they will appear in the shop within the next couple of days once we have shot the product images.
