Creator of Gaffer Tape

Who Created Gaffer Tape

Gaffer tape, is an essential to television, movie, concerts, and live show production crews. A commodity so loved by production industries, which continues to be a prominent use for the making of all productions both major and minor. Who exactly is behind this masterpiece tape? A man named Ross Lowell.

Lowell recently passed away on January 10, 2019, at his home in Pound Ridge, New York. He was 92 years old. In his life, Ross Lowell challenged and enhanced lighting elements where he was recognized for his technical achievements.

How did Gaffer Tape come to be?

The creation of this tape came when Ross Lowell was working on the set of a 1957 documentary, “The Delinquents: The Highfields Story” when he encountered a problem with a lighting clamp. He did this through combing a socket and handle onto a ball-swivel that could clamp onto mounting devices, such as a putty knife or suction cup. Since his quick “on the spot” creation ended up working out pretty well he then went on to create what is now gaffer tape.

Gaffer tape has a base of Johnson & Johnson’s duct tape, but with a different backing of silver fabric. The different backing makes the tape more reliable for metal fastening.

Gaffer tape holds more than one use. It has usage for wrapping cables together, holding something down or together, and even be used a visual for actors to make sure they hit their correct spot on stage. One use is no more important than the next, as this tape continues to serve an essential purpose in all that it helps.

More Achieved by Ross Lowell

Besides being the creator of Gaffer tape, Lowell was also a cinematographer, photographer, Oscar-winning lighting designer, author, and entrepreneur. In 1979 Lowell won an Oscar award for the “Development of Compact Lighting Equipment for Motion Picture Technology.” Alongside that, he was also recognized and awarded the John Grierson Gold Medal for many achievements, inventions, and developments in lighting and grip equipment by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.

Outside of technical recognitions and achievements, Lowell was also the cinematographer for the short film, A Year Toward Tomorrow, which won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject in 1967. He also produced a book called, “Matters of Light and Depth” which was published in 1992.

Ross Lowell was not only able to improve technical lighting, but he also continuously captured art through different lenses. Whether it was a film, a photo, or a book Lowell was a man of many talents, achievements and developments within multiple production industries.