This LED Mask Can Light Up Any Room
By: Sophia Smith
Tags: Design, Face Mask, Mask Envy, Fashion, Mask

There’s a lot you can do to make a mask stand out — patterns, paint, embellishments — but to make a true standout among the strongest standouts, you gotta make it shine.

That’s what Timothy Cochran, founder and designer of Bay Area-based company Daftboy, decided to do with this fiber-optic mask. The fiber-optic fabric and battery are fully contained within the mask, so you can light up the room wherever you are. More recently, Daftboy released an LED “smart mask” that allows you to input custom words and designs across the fabric.

We asked Cochran more about Daftboy and his showstopping masks.

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The Bold Italic: Tell us about yourself! Are you from the Bay Area?

Timothy Cochran: Hey, I’m Timothy Cochran, the daftest of daft boys. I’m not originally from the Bay Area. Actually, I got my start on a Navajo reservation where I grew up, then somehow made my way to Minnesota, and eventually landed myself in NYC in fashion and retail back when faux mohawks and fedoras were hot. (So hot.)

I’ve helped launch, manage, and promote dozens of brands, including Bare Escentuals, TIMGear, ModelCo, and more. I can’t even mention them all. I’ve mostly worked behind the scenes snagging coveted spots in some of the biggest fashion shows, not the least of which was the L.A. and New York fashion weeks. I’ve partnered with designers like Richie Rich, designing looks for brand promotion in addition to directing regional operations for multiple big retailers. I’ve jumped around a lot behind the scenes for other designers in all sorts of support and lead roles (kinda like Sia), and somehow I landed in San Francisco, where I’ve put down roots and started my own accessories brand, Daftboy.

What’s the story behind Daftboy?

Daftboy sprung from my deep knowledge of the retail and fashion industry and a desire to bring a little fun via sassy accessories derived from drag queen culture but made for everyone. As RuPaul says: “We’re all born naked, and the rest is drag.”

The name Daftboy actually came from my youth. I was watching a lot of PBS late at night and was mesmerized by the character of Mrs. Slocombe on the show Are You Being Served? She was really my gateway to the love of drag queens, and I would still consider her to be one of the most iconic faux queens to ever be on TV. She would change her hair color every episode, would constantly talk about her pussy (cat), and would call her junior staff member a “daft boy.” I just loved her. I wanted to create some daft (silly, foolish) accessories with a retro feeling that are actually quite modern, so when I was looking to name my brand, I just thought that it fit. Daftboy was born.

We started our Daftboy brand by creating and designing some amazing folding, thwoorping, clacking hand fans! Yassss! And with the help of building our Daftboy chosen family and community, we branched out into creating fun and empowering accessories like our masks.

Your fiber-optic and LED masks are super unique. What inspired them? How do you make them?

Thanks! We saw the importance of masks in 2020, and with so many cloth masks out there, we wanted to make something with a more light, fun feel. So we made a mask with lights.

For the fiber-optic mask, we just used LED hardware and fiber-optic fabric. This style was designed and updated here in San Francisco. We took this fiber-optic technology and updated many features to make it more user friendly as well as incorporating some cool design features like the placement of the control switch and the filtration pouch.