Leather webcam covers keep spies away in style

By

webcam covers
Micro-suction-backed leather makes fashionable webcam covers.
Photo: Arthur Lhermitte

A Paris fashion designer, known for quirky clothing and accessories that catch eyes, uses scrap material to keep prying eyes from using webcams to spy.

Arthur Lhermitte makes webcam covers from leather offcut from his patterns. The tiny dots of leather stick to laptop webcams and smartphone cameras with a micro-suction tape that leaves no residue on the lens.

Little circles of leather – that’s it. But the simplicity and function of the product are catching on during a time when privacy in our digital lives feels threatened. Even Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is concerned enough to put a small piece of black tape over his laptop webcam.

webcam covers
A pack of eight covers hides device lenses from spying eyes.
Photo: Arthur Lhermitte

Lhermitte, seeking just $174 on Kickstarter to bring his colorful webcam covers to market, has raised more than $9,000. He is part of a new group of entrepreneurs on the crowd-funding site that pitches products on a new Kickstarter platform called Quickstarter.

Started by his brother and fellow fashion designer, Oscar, Quickstarter invites people to create small projects with funding goals of less than $1,000. It’s a way to float an idea for a bigger project under development or to introduce aspiring inventors or entrepreneurs to crowdfunding a product or business.

Quickstarter currently has 15 active campaigns, from a zine and lava candle holder to games and a reusable grocery tote that folds into a letter-size envelop.

“At first, I didn’t really know what to do as a Quickstarter campaign,” Arthur Lhermitte told Cult of Mac. “Then I realized I had all these leftovers I could use. “(Before) I thought of the webcam cover, I was using a little post-it on my laptop like a lot of other people.”

webcam covers
Offcut leather in Arthur Lhermitte’s studio.
Photo: Arthur Lhermitte

Luxury, especially as it relates to animal skins, is about “wanting the best, wasting the rest,” he said. Typically, a crocodile handbag will use the middle part of the skin with the rest oftening getting tossed. The customer’s price reflects the whole skin.

Lhermitte, 34, has taken notice of the waste generated by the fashion industry and tries to find uses for all the material cut away from a particular design or project.

From his Paris workshop, he runs the brand Striiiipes. His focus is not on any one type of fashion. He does men’s and women’s clothes, but also creates stylish accessories, like silk pocket squares and wallets, bags and rings made from exotic animal skins.

He is keenly aware of how people integrate their devices with their lives and comes up with stylish ways to protect gadgets. Lhermitte makes iPad sleeves and pouches and often the leather scrapes get turned into chic thumb drive holders.

Lhermitte’s webcam cover will be on Kickerstarter for nine more days. A pack of eight leather webcam covers in all black or random colors is about $7.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.