Our story

The story of TabTag begins in 2011 on a silent meditation retreat near Dharamsala, India. One unexpected side effect of meditation is that the mind becomes surprisingly creative. Every time you notice it wandering and gently bring it back to the present, it seems to respond by offering another idea. So there I was trying to focus on being present, when an idea came to me. Having spent big chunks of my childhood and adolescence drawing with pencil on paper, I felt limited to drawing on white (or at least light) paper, because graphite and every white medium I tried either lacked visibility or detail on dark backgrounds. What if I could combine digital white—the light emitted by a screen or another light source—with analogue black: any black surface?

The challenge quickly became clear. I needed a light source to illuminate the artwork from behind, and a way to precisely control which parts would let the light shine through and which would block it.

1. The first problem was surprisingly easy. Millions of people were already carrying around Apple MacBooks with an identical glowing logo built into the lid.
2. The second problem proved far more difficult. I wanted a sticker that could be removed without leaving residue, reused over and over again, and still produce crisp, glowing artwork. Standard cut vinyl wasn't enough, so together with the person who would later become my production partner, I spent more than a year experimenting with materials and printing techniques until we finally had a working prototype.

At this time I was freelancing for a marketing agency so my time to work on TabTag was very limited. In 2014 I finally launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, learning as I went. Despite many beginner mistakes the campaign was a success, international and local media covered the launch of glowing TabTag. The initial 18 designs sold remarkably well and companies (including Spotify, Netflix, Instagram, Google, Twitter, Slack, Dropbox, TED, Opera, Mercedes-Benz, Shopify) got in touch to have their logos and branding turned into custom TabTags. One of the proudest milestones was hiring my first employee to help with marketing. We exhibited at creative festivals in Graz, Dublin and New York, and were continually amazed by the response. 

I would have happily kept growing TabTag, but in 2016 Apple removed the glowing logo from its MacBooks. Since the product depended on that built-in light source, I knew the original TabTag's days were numbered. I shifted my focus to adhesive-free stickers that that stood out through elaborate designs, special color editions (metallic, neon, glow in the dark) and almost infinite reusability. Although technically superior, the new TabTag proved harder to explain and ultimately appealed to a smaller audience. Within two years my thriving company had shrunk to a one-man business run from home, while I supplemented my income with freelance work.

I knew that my knowledge in printing techniques and adhesive-free films had value, I just needed to invent a new product to  apply it. Around that time I kept reading about privacy violations caused by cameras being activated without users' knowledge. I also noticed webcams covered with bandages and sticky notes. That inspired me to create a reusable webcam cover for devices with a built-in camera. It needed to be thin, durable, printed at the highest available resolution, resistant to everyday wear—including friction and the natural oils on our fingers—and precision die-cut. Once more it took months of prototyping until I felt confident to launch a second campaign on Kickstarter. Lessons learned from the first campaign, combined with more in-depth preparation, led to a successful launch of CamTag.  

Since then CamTag has been growing steadily, but of course I never stopped working on other product ideas. Subscribe to our newsletter to be among the first to know about new product releases and promotions. Without your continued support TabTag and CamTag wouldn’t exist. I'm grateful for everyone who has supported this journey. Without you, neither TabTag nor CamTag would exist. Thank you.