Antwerp-based eyewear care brand Alpagota is on a mission to elevate the rather boring, yet entirely necessary, ritual of cleaning your glasses. Through the launch of its debut line of aromatic lens cleaners and cloths (the latter made from a patented Japanese fabric), the days of simply breathing on your glasses and wiping them on your sleeve will soon be a thing of the past.

Alpagota’s scented eyewear products make cleaning your glasses a thing of beauty

‘By transforming a mundane routine into a scented ritual, we help people become more involved in their essential daily care,’ says Gaëtan Gaye, the founder of Alpagota. But the brand isn't just about romanticising the everyday, he adds. He wants to spread the word about the importance of taking care of your glasses.

'First and foremost, it's a question of health, of visual health,' he says. 'The slightest smudge on your lenses causes your eyes to struggle to find the correct focus point. That constant extra effort tires out your eye muscles, leading to tension and headaches.'

Enter Alpagota's hero product, The Protective Aromatic Lens Cleaner. Drawing inspiration from high-end skincare, it is contained in refillable, jewel-toned glass spray bottles, inspired by mid-century design.

The cleaners offer three different olfactory combinations: notes of sandalwood and matcha, eucalyptus and patchouli or green mandarin and cedarwood. The formula removes impurities and protects against smudges, dust and grease, enriched with anti-static and anti-stain ingredients, as well as lengthening the life of lenses by preventing the coating from peeling.

Alpagota's cleaning cloths accompanying the lens cleaners, made from a patented fabric called Silktech, which features a high density of ultra-fine knitting yarns. This allows the material to absorb impurities through capillary action, while remaining super-soft and elastic to prevent damage to the surface of your lenses.

Every cloth is hand-cut and hand-sewn in harmonious colourways that complement the shades of the corresponding cleaner bottles, including apricot, red and indigo; blue, cream and anthracite; and burgundy, blue and orange.

A recent report by fragrance marketing firm EcoFrench Lab named 2025 as 'the year when olfactory emotions transform the customer experience'. And, while Alpagota isn't the first to produce scented products, Gaye notes that it speaks directly to this uptick.

'We are part of a major trend called olfactory-led experiences, which are rising in demand, with Gen Z being the main driver,' he says. 'This is a generation that expects more from its products than mere efficacy.'

alpagota.com

‘Archival libraries and reading rooms’ were the source of inspiration for Cutler and Gross’ new store on New York’s Mercer Street. After a decade at 110 Mercer Street, the British eyewear brand has moved just a stone’s throw away to number 71, sizing up to a 2,400 sq ft space in a pre-war building first constructed in the 1920s. The shift also marks a wider refresh for the brand, with the store’s ‘new look’ to be replicated across its global outposts, including its original London stores and locations in Bath, Los Angeles and Toronto.

Inside Cutler and Gross’ new Mercer Street store

The interior was crafted by creative brothers Chris Leong and Dominic Leong of New York-based architecture firm Leong Leong, who were inspired by historic meeting places like The Colony Room and Partisan Coffee House in London. ‘These were the creative hubs for intellectuals and creatives during that time and places that Tony Gross and Graham Cutler [the brand’s founders] spent time in,’ the brothers tell Wallpaper*.

‘Social clubs are sanctuaries of camaraderie and self-expression, places where individuality is not only permitted but celebrated,’ say the designers, who contrasted these sociable spaces with the reflective mood of an art gallery. ’Galleries, on the other hand, are spaces of contemplation and spectacle, inviting individuals to traverse through curated narratives absorbing and reflecting what is on display. These dual realms of expression and observation capture the ethos of the brand. It felt natural to weave these experiences into the design of the store.’

The main source of inspiration, though, was driven by the brand's roots in London’s 1960s counterculture. Nodding to its establishment in 1969, the space contains a series of iconic furniture pieces from the era, including Robin Dey’s ‘Forum 3-Seater Sofa’, and ‘Flowerpot Lamp’. Alongside, contemporary designers are intertwined, with other designs including Axel Chay’s ‘Modulation Floor Lamp’, Philippe Malouin’s ‘Group Sofa’ and Matthew Hilton’s ‘Ella Lounge Chair’. A simple but refined design and warm palette meet pops of unexpected green inspired by the design of the original Cutler and Gross store in Knightsbridge.

‘There are a couple nice gathering places in the store,’ say the pair of their favourite feature. ‘The bar is a counter element with stools where customers can interact with staff and view eyewear collections. The lounge is a private area tucked away at the back of the space that is dedicated to personalised services, for eye exams and bespoke fittings.’

Although boasting an expansive portfolio of architectural projects, designing a space for eyewear was a new venture for the design duo. ‘Designing for eyewear requires a lot of attention to lighting. In collaboration with lighting designer Alex B. Miller and TM Light, we calibrated the shelving illumination to ensure each pair of glasses is displayed well. Our goal was to infuse the space with an intimate ambiance, achieved through subtle, inviting light levels that create a warm, welcoming environment.’

Cutler and Gross, 71 Mercer Street [Between Spring and Broome], New York, USA 10012.

cutlerandgross.com

When it comes to packing for a summer vacation, lightness should always be favoured. Lindberg’s titanium frames – a signature of the Danish brand, which is known for its meticulous approach to eyewear – make for a particularly featherweight addition to your carry-on, with several of their frames tipping the scales at under two grams.

Taken from Lindberg’s ‘Sun Titanium’ collection, this gently faceted riff on the aviator will prove the perfect travel companion: impossibly lightweight, they feature the screwless hinge which Paul-Jørn Lindberg (who founded the brand with son Henrik Lindberg) developed with Copenhagen-based architects Dissing + Weitling in the mid-1980s to solve the issue of screws having to be continually tightened and maintained. Each pair is completed with the finest quality UV-protective lenses (available in a variety of hues) and is crafted by Lindberg’s artisans in Denmark. The collection also includes plays on other classic eyewear styles – from Wayfarer to cat’s eye.

Featherweight division: Lindberg’s ‘Sun Titanium’ sunglasses

It is the kind of utilitarian Danish design which remains a cornerstone of Lindberg today. And, like much of the country’s design output – from furniture to textiles – functionality meets a sleek, timeless aesthetic, making for sunglasses which will accompany you on your travels again and again. For other tips of what to add to your carry on, visit Wallpaper’s definitive packing list and our guide to the best capacious travel bags.

Lindberg’s ‘Sun Titanium’ collection is available from Lindberg stockists worldwide, which can be discovered here. This includes the opticians at Harrods and Selfridges in London.

A version of this article appears in the June 2024 Travel Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.

It was a Roman holiday for Brunello Cucinelli this past week, who swapped Solomeo – the medieval Umbrian hamlet that the cashmere giant has transformed into its Edenic headquarters – for the Eternal City to launch a new eyewear collection at Villa Aurelia, a Baroque residence on Rome’s Janiculum Hill.

First built in the late 17th century for Cardinal Girolamo Farnese – then the governor of Rome – the ornate home was later restored by an American heiress, Mrs Clara Jessup Heyland, who bequeathed it after her death to the American Academy in Rome. It proved a suitably dramatic backdrop: beyond the ornate residence are sprawling gardens replete with Roman pine trees and palms, its winding walkways leading to breathtaking vistas of the city in its entirety beyond. 

Brunello Cucinelli launches S/S 2024 eyewear collection in Rome

From these gardens emerged models wearing the brand’s new eyewear collection in an intimate runway show which took place just at the onset of evening (naturally, beyond the sunglasses, they were entirely clad in Brunello Cucinelli, as if on a particularly glamourous eveningtime wander). The collection marks the first full offering under the Brunello Cucinelli name; previously, the brand’s eyewear collection, first launched in 2021, was created alongside American eyewear label Oliver Peoples, which was founded in West Hollywood in the 1980s.

This new collection is created as part of a new deal with French-Italian eyewear conglomerate EssilorLuxottica, which owns Oliver Peoples alongside creating sunglasses for Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Burberry and Versace, among others. Cucinelli, who has placed artisanal Italian craftsmanship at the centre of his eponymous label since its founding in 1978, said the deal with EssilorLuxottica was signed in 2022 after a conversation with Luxottica founder Leonardo Del Vecchio who passed away in June of the same year.

’Leonardo Del Vecchio confessed to me one day: ”Dear Brunello, I don’t know whether the glasses we make are beautiful, but they’re certainly made in the best way in the world!’’ Today, admiring the excellent result of such formidable work and harmony, I think back to the words of that gracious, strong-willed, steadfast and kind man, who saw in his Agordo company what he liked to call “the beautiful factory”, a little like I do with Solomeo,’ says Cucinelli (called the ‘Hamlet of Harmony’, Solomeo has become a lifelong project in combining community, culture, education and production in a single place).

Working together with Francesco Milleri, chairman and CEO of EssilorLuxottica, the Brunello Cucinelli team created the collection which includes both sunglasses and opticals and largely centres on riffs on classic styles – from Wayfarers to Aviators. Encompassing what Cucinelli calls a ‘gentle luxury’, the glasses feature lavish materials – from made-in-Japan titanium frames to arms plated in 18-carat gold, while lenses are made in the Barberini factory in Silvi, Italy. Cashmere provides the inspiration for the collection’s palette, alongside the colours and reflections of Italian sunsets.

Adds Milleri: ‘The Brunello Cucinelli fashion house has succeeded in creating a new concept of luxury, fueled by respect for labour and its dignity.... We are bound by more than just an agreement: Brunello Cucinelli is not only a great entrepreneur but also a friend whom I respect and admire. The collection we helped to create under his and his family’s creative direction expresses all these values, perfectly combining technology and superior craftsmanship.’

Wallpaper* joined the festivities on Thursday evening, which after the runway show began with aperitivo on the the Villa Aurelia terrace before guests entered the Sala Aurelia for a typically lavish dinner – Cucinelli is known for his Italian hospitality – which comprised heaving tables of antipasti, signature Paccheri pasta and an array of desserts, from chocolate-encased ice creams to cannoli filled to order. The evening ended, in typically Italian style, with music and dancing, as the lights of Rome twinkled below.

‘Plato said: ”Beauty is the splendour of truth”,’ concluded Cucinelli. ’I wholeheartedly hope that our glasses, which are so true and beautiful, will please customers and achieve all the success they deserve.’

Brunello Cucinelli S/S 2024 eyewear is available now on the brand’s website and in boutiques worldwide. 

brunellocucinelli.com

In 1938, Salvatore Ferragamo created the ‘Rainbow Shoe’ for Judy Garland, a sky-high gold sandal with a wedge heel in a vivid spectrum of rainbow hues – such was its impact, the Italian shoemaker is credited with introducing the platform shoe to the masses. Over eight decades on, a new capsule collection from Ferragamo’s namesake house pays homage to the founder’s innate understanding of form and colour, and the ‘Rainbow Shoe’ itself, with a mood-elevating series of sunglasses in time for summer’s imminent arrival. 

Available in a range of vivid shades – from candy pink and cerulean blue, to green and yellow – the genderless sunglasses draw on the colourful vigour of 1980s accessories, with chunky transparent frames embossed with the house’s ‘Gancini’ symbol (another nod back to the house’s history, the motif was originally inspired by the gate of Palazzo Spini Feroni in central Florence, the home city of the brand since 1927). Inside, each arm is printed with the Ferragamo logo and, despite their generous size, a historic commitment to craftsmanship ensures each pair is truly light to the touch. 

The collection – titled simply ‘Multicolour Eyewear Capsule’ – also marks the latest foray into sustainability for Salvatore Ferragamo, with frames made from low-impact, plant-based compound material and lenses made from salvaged wood and the leftovers of farming activity. The box in which each pair from the collection arrives is made from 50 per cent recycled materials. 

‘Innovative, creative use of raw materials has always been a signature trait of the Florentine fashion house,’ says the brand in a statement. ‘We have always been extremely mindful of the environmental impact of the products we make, as we passionately forge ahead with a commitment to ever more sustainable development.’

These sunglasses are a much-needed injection of colour – ready for brighter days ahead.

INFORMATION

ferragamo.com

Brunello Cucinelli has collaborated with Oliver Peoples for its first eyewear collection, unveiling five new styles made in Italy. The partnership – which is the first collaboration for Brunello Cucinelli – is a natural fit for both brands, who share a focus on simple forms, historical references and flawless craftsmanship.

The five styles reference Brunello Cucinelli’s history, with geometric silhouettes echoing the familiar ‘Monili’ pattern and a logo that encapsulates the skyline of the Italian village of Solomeo, the place where it all began.

Brunello Cucinelli and Oliver Peoples: eyewear with heritage

Such historical design codes make a chic foil for contemporary accents, reflected in the clean silhouette of the pilot-style ‘Disoriano’ frames drawn in neutral hues. Forms are more generously sketched in the vintage-inspired ‘Filu’ glasses, which play with colour across both lenses and frames. Also referencing the past are the ‘Nino’ frames, which echo old Hollywood in their retro silhouette: special editions created from sustainably sourced horn are also available, each piece unique.

Quintessential Oliver Peoples design details are threaded throughout the ‘Artemio’ glasses, the frames featuring a distinctive curved silhouette, and interchangeable as both opticals and sunglasses. In the ‘Oliver Sun’ frames, bold forms are drawn in a smoky olive hue.

The collection intertwines design motifs from both brands, nodding to the offbeat aesthetics that began appearing in the second half of the 20th century. The vintage-inspired frames in elegant hues that Oliver Peoples began to produce in 1987 were an antidote to the oversized, boldly coloured frames that were fashionable at time.

Brunello Cucinelli, too, presented something wholly new upon its inception in 1978, with its dyed cashmere – a product until then only available in natural colours – offering a new form of craftsmanship.

The new eyewear collection neatly incorporates these references, uniting natural hues and fluid silhouettes in elegant frames that are light and comfortable to wear.

INFORMATION

brunellocucinelli.com
oliverpeoples.com

New start-up Aether is exploring a relatively unmapped niche in the world of personal technology: audio eyewear. Disguised as a pair of high-quality sunglasses or glasses, the range of Aether frames actually contain embedded compact speakers, designed to direct sound quality straight to your ears with minimal disturbance to those around you. 

That’s the idea. In truth – although you shouldn’t sling out your AirPods just yet – Aether offers an uncanny new way of interacting with both sound and your surroundings.

The five Aether styles (S1, S2, D1, R1 and R2) offer up something for everyone, from the angular full-face retro stylings of the S2 to the more classic S1. Carl Zeiss Vision lenses come as standard, and each frame is available in black, dark grey and smoke brown.

The sunglasses come with a tailored, tight-fitting aluminium case/charger. When stowed away and docked, your sunglasses are charging, with a USB connector on the case to keep the internal battery topped up.

The sunglasses themselves are good for around three hours of listening time once fully charged. After set-up, pairing is simple and happens automatically once you’ve taken them out of the box. The frames feel relatively solid, weighing around 40g, although for the first few outings, your senses are seriously discombobulated; you know you’re wearing sunglasses, but the music seems to come from nowhere. 

With Aether audio eyewear there’s no disconnect from your surroundings

Aether’s creative director and co-founder Hannes Unt, the man responsible for the brand’s ethos and aesthetic, refers to a ‘holistic aural experience’, and there’s some truth in that. Obviously, this is not a noise-cancelling system, for random external sounds become an integral part of your internal audio choices. For certain types of music – especially ambient and atmospheric – this works very well. Your life suddenly has a soundtrack, mixed in with all the horns and birdsong, passing traffic and random snippets of conversation.

However, try to listen to something unfamiliar or especially subtle and all nuance tends to be lost. Podcasts and radio shows, though, are a natural fit for the Aether approach. The glasses are also great for taking calls, even if the total absence of any earpieces makes you seem even more detached from reality than the average hands-free caller. As with conventional earbuds and headphones, the device can be controlled with touches and taps. 

Aether’s eyewear feels experimental but works well, up to a point. The sunglasses won’t shut out the grind of the commute or the chatter of a crowd. Instead, they promise sound without the loss of connection – there are times when you probably don’t want to retreat into silicon-tipped aural oblivion.

If you want to listen discreetly, without losing the sound of the sea or the noises of a forest, for example, then Aether is exactly what you need. 

INFORMATION

Aether audio eyewear, from €360

aether-eyewear.com

A shared love of colour, quality and inclusivity has led the socially conscious eyewear brand Warby Parker to team up with Entireworld, the equally democratic clothing label by designer Scott Sternberg, formerly behind the cult (and now defunct) New York label Band of Outsiders. Entireworld not only puts forward well-made utilitarian basics at a relatively affordable price, but is backed by a sustainable and ecologically responsible ethos as well. Armed with quirky cuts and memorable, bright colours, it’s an ideal port of call when searching for those hardworking wardrobe essentials. 

Together, Warby Parker and Entireworld have given the eyewear brand’s cult ‘Hatcher’ sunglasses (a pair of retro, unisex aviator frames) a fresh new look with four limited-edition shades – pink, jade, midnight blue and oxblood – which Sternberg selected to brighten and enhance the 1970s-inspired style. Underpinned by Sternberg’s belief that colour has the power to transcend and uplift – as epitomised by his colour-drenched clothing, from T-shirts and sweatpants to socks and underwear for both men and women – this spin on Warby Parker’s acetate sunnies is perfect for any weather.

‘We’ve been following Scott’s career since his days at Band of Outsiders and are thrilled to be able to collaborate with him at Entireworld,’ says Neil Blumenthal, Warby Parker co-CEO and co-founder. ‘Both of us subscribe to the idea of elevating everyday items with creativity and colour and making them accessible – and that’s exactly what he did with our “Hatcher” frame.’

Of course, the effort doesn’t stop there. Each of the colourways is accompanied by an artwork specially created by an emerging artist – Olamide Ogunade, Tosin Kalejaye, Brooke Fierce Bronner, Diana Ejaita, ‘capturing the spirit of summer 2021’, and an custom Entireworld lens cloth to match the frames. ‘Giving a platform to emerging artists felt like the most compelling way to capture this moment,’ says Sternberg. In recent years, Warby Parker has partnered with a host of artists and art foundations, with projects including the creation of two tone shades inspired by Robert Rauschenberg and a collaboration with the Cooper Hewitt.

Along with Warby Parker’s practice of distributing a pair of glasses to someone in need for every purchase, a donation has also been made to the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, challenging racial and economic injustice, and protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

INFORMATION

entireworld.com

warbyparker.com

Jonathan Anderson has long shown an interest in bringing a new lens to silhouettes, often exploring notions of mundanity and archetypal clothing. For his eponymous brand's S/S 2022 collection which was unveiled last month, the label looked at items synonymous with the everyday contemporary wardrobe, from fleeces to striped tops, and transformed them into something new, using 18th century-inspired strawberry prints and voluminous silhouettes.

The same approach can be seen in JW Anderson’s latest collaboration with Italian eyewear specialist Persol, featuring classic sunglasses silhouettes that have been imbued with a new sense of colour and ebullience. For the prismatic partnership, Anderson has looked to two styles – the ‘649’ aviator style, which dates back to 1957 and was sported by tram drivers before being popularised by Marcello Mastroianni in the 1961 film Divorce Italian Style, and the innovative ‘0009’ silhouette, which features four lenses – and reinterpreted them with two-tone combinations of bold blue, red and orange.

JW Anderson x Persol: classic design meets kaleidoscopic colour

‘They are a design classic; I wear them all the time,’ Anderson says of his long-held affinity for Persol. ‘The craftsmanship and quality is amazing. They remind me of midcentury furniture design, and their classic form inspired the colour combinations.’

In celebration of the collaboration, Anderson has enlisted Brooklyn-based photographer Tyler Mitchell, who also shot and starred in the brand’s A/W 2020 campaign, to photograph a series of emotive portraits, featuring men and women sporting sculptural hair creations that echo the architectural contours of the sunglasses’ silhouettes. These striking structures were created by Jamaican-American hairstylist Jawara. ‘I wanted images that became kind of poetic miniatures, almost like windows,’ Anderson says of the visual series.

Fancy starring in your own miniature portrait? We suggest you pick up a pair of JW Anderson x Persol’s prismastic sunglasses pronto.

INFORMATION
jwanderson.com

persol.com

The architectural and optical worlds may not be the most obvious of natural bedfellows, but over time their creative identities have become intertwined. Perhaps the most famous glasses style synonymous with the architectural profession was that sported by Le Corbusier: circular, thickly rimmed and crafted in opaque black acetate. IM Pei also favoured the full moon silhouette, and British architect Peter Cook sports a neon blue circular style of spectacles today. Scroll through websites of leading opticals brands, and you'll likely find a style titled ‘The Architect’.

Materiality, structure, utility: similar themes run between the fields of spatial design and opticals. Now, leading Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has set about firmly uniting the two. Kuma, who is renowned for his organic and holistic approach to construction and has had his architectural cannon drawn out in a new illustrated book by Hiroshi Miyazawa, has teamed up with Portuguese eyewear brand Vava, on a capsule sunglasses collection. Vava itself references the Bauhaus and minimalism as long-term influences, and views its silhouettes in relation to facial architecture: ‘Framed as buildings, our eyewear uses the face as a landscape.'

Kengo Kuma sunglasses are wearable structures

The capsule collection is composed of two 3D-printed styles, crafted using a high-quality polyamide bio-based powder, made from castor oil. The style ‘CL0013’, with a criss-crossing geometric shape, is inspired by traditional Japanese building techniques, which Kuma often alludes to in his designs, incorporating latticed or woven structures, and working in wood and bamboo.

The curving, interlaced framed of the ‘CL0015’ style’s silhouette, meanwhile, nods to weaving as a building form, a microcosmic take on Kuma's architectural aesthetic.

Both frames are available in a range of prismatic colours, including ‘Aqua Haze' and ‘Mellow Yellow'.

Le Corbusier, IM Pei… it's time to induct Kengo Kuma into the architecture-meets-optometry hall of fame. Now eyewear doesn't just allude to the style of architects, it's designed by them too.

INFORMATION

vavaeyewear.com

Côte Du Soleil – the latest collection from eyewear brand neubau – addresses desire and detail in equal measure. In part-homage to the Austrian born actress Romy Schneider, three handsome new styles draw on the sultry French Riviera setting of Schneider’s 1969 thriller La Piscine. 

Named Romy, Alain and Maurice, the frames channel the glow of a languid, Hitchcockian summer and are 3D printed in a 100 per cent biobased material. ‘The French 1960s are a symbol for change, especially when it comes to aesthetics,’ Eva Reisinger, neubau’s senior international marketing manager says. ‘It was bold, free, nonchalant. Freedom is the key word when it comes to working with 3D printing too – there are no boundaries, just endless opportunities. And zero waste.’

Since 2016, the brand – which is an offshoot of the Silhouette International group – has advocated more sustainable production methods within the eyewear market. We’re confronted with a deluge of plastic waste on a daily basis (the proliferation of PPE clogging the seas is a new worry for environmental campaigners) and so the design team took on the challenge to develop an alternative to the regular raw oil base without compromising on quality. They developed a material that is not genetically modified, nor does it occur in the food chain of animals or humans: ‘It uses oil extracted from the seeds of the castor oil plant which is then turned into a polyamide powder. This powder is merged together layer by layer by a laser during the printing process and excess material is reused for additional prints,’ Reisinger says. It takes around 24-hours to produce up to 400 ‘raw’ frames. 

‘Considering sustainability and social responsibility should be the new standard. The whole Covid crisis gives us additional tailwind to follow our strategy without compromise,’ Reisinger says. ‘The fashion industry is the second biggest polluter on earth and that definitely has to change. Wearing sustainable products shouldn´t just be the right thing to do – it should be the most attractive thing to do.’ 

INFORMATION

neubau-eyewear.com

A trip to the sun-soaked Medinas in Marrakech changed Randall Bachner’s career path in ways he didn’t imagine. Having booked a flight one January for a 10-day trip, the New York-based photographer said ‘the light, the pace and the energy’ of the vibrant and sprawling desert-city left him inspired. ‘The love of craftsmanship here made me feel like you could create anything in Marrakech,’ he says. ‘I never felt the possibility for something new in New York like I felt in Morocco.’

This notion played on his mind until 2013, when Bachner packed a bag and flew to Morocco for a three-month period ‘to see how it would go… there was very little planned,’ he says. But it seemed his journey was fated; he met Mohamed Zerhloul, who introduced Bachner to key local craftspeople including his master weaver and his tailor — both of which are also called Mohamed. ‘It’s the Mohamad trilogy,’ he laughs. ‘Together, we explored this idea of handwoven garments.’ Marrakshi Life was born.

From the off, the brand’s vision was to seamlessly mesh Moroccan fabrication and traditional techniques with a more New York aesthetic. Today, the clothes are unisex, with loose-cut and utilitarian silhouettes in vivacious hues reminiscent of the technicolour souks.

A boiler suit from Spring / Summer 2021 in desert shades is adorned with an applique palm leaf; a boxy lab coat is decorated with silhouettes of sand dunes. The rustic fabrics are hand-washed before each Marrakshi Life garment is sewn to soften them against the skin; his jet-setting lifestyle as a photographer influences his designs. ‘We’re making clothes that cater to this lifestyle of urban comfort,’ he says.

The brand has grown steadily, now employing some 55 employees in Marrakech, and today it’s sold at international retailers including Matches Fashion. But even as demand increases, Bachner is committed to the low-impact, local production model that Marrakshi Life was founded upon. ‘All our garments are made to order, so we are not forced to invest in inventory,’ he says. To combat the traditional sizing discrepancy between menswear and womenswear, elasticated waists are a prominent feature — it also adds that sense of leisure and ease into otherwise tailored garments. Clients can also request bespoke sizing for a more custom fit. ‘We only make pieces our clients are ordering. In this era of sustainability, I am very conscious to work as locally as possible. Creating a positive vibe is the most important element in the day to day as a manufacturer,’ says Bachner, who has spent the last six months in Marrakech due to the Covid-19 lockdown. ‘We have a responsibility to our team to treat everyone with respect.’ 

INFORMATION

marrakshilife.com

The most fruitful creative alliances are, ostensibly, those which straddle several different disciplines at once. Evidence for which: Max Mara’s new collaboration with CoopDPS – the title shared by painter Nathalie Du Pasquier and designer George Sowden – bridges art, fashion and industrial design, to create a limited-edition pair of bright, geometric sunglasses. What better formula for enthusiasm, energy and innovation? 

That CoopDPS’ legacy is so deeply rooted in Milan, where the artist and the designer first met at a party in 1979 and have lived together ever since, makes it a natural fit for the Italian house. They began developing ideas and drawings together immediately, and two years later, in September 1981, the very first Memphis exhibition took place during Salone del Mobile. With it, the duo – partners in life, as well as in work – became founding members of a movement which was to redefine postmodern design and architecture.

Du Pasquier and Sowden continued to work together through Memphis for seven years before deciding to refocus on their painting and industrial design practices respectively. But in 2014, they relaunched their collaboration under the new title, CoopDPS. ‘Interestingly and importantly, work done in collaboration takes on a quality which is different to projects developed individually,' says Sowden.

Circles and squares collide in the resulting style for Max Mara, named Neoprism and inspired by the two shapes which form the Prism logo. The geometric style is available in two bold colourways – orange, and black – and nods to the creative duo’s legacy, while also drawing on the combination of function and elegance at the core of the brand’s identity. ‘The prism being a combination of a circle and a square is quite a "modernist" idea,' Du Pasquier explains. ‘It takes us back to the time women started participating in the working life, it takes us back to the origin of Max Mara.'

The house’s eyewear collections have long been fertile ground for artist collaborations; in recent seasons, it has turned to graphic artist Shantell Martin and muralist Maya Hayuk, among others, to reimagine its Prism style. ‘Both art and fashion are representing the time in which they are made,' Du Pasquier concludes. In its collaboration with CoopDPS, Max Mara’s new styles reflect a contemporary society which happily looks back, in order to look forwards. 

INFORMATION

maxmara.com

There are strikingly few examples of the Bauhaus wearing glasses. Of the 12 on the cover of the school’s magazine from 1928 only two are bespectacled; the artist Wassily Kandinsky turns to his right, hair perfectly combed, wearing frameless oval glasses with slim arms. Typographer Joost Schmidt smiles to camera, two black rimmed circles around his kind eyes. Yet as the Bauhaus celebrates its centenary, Neubau – the eyewear brand from Silhouette – takes a fresh look at the school’s founding principles for a special edition frame.

Roland Keplinger, Neubau’s head of design says, ‘When you think about Bauhaus, you immediately think about the furniture’. Its impact on design, mass production and even technology is seismic. Toilets, trays and trousers have all laid claim to the group’s maxim: ‘form follows function.’ Since launching in 2016 as an environmentally responsible, made-in-Austria company, Neubau has combined quality with eco-positive design. Packaging is manufactured from a cellulose base without any need for glue and the cleaning cloth is made from recycled plastic bottles. Frames are made with oil extracted from the seeds of castor oil plants. They are radical in their weightlessness.

The archetypal Wassily Chair – designed by Marcel Breuer between 1925-1926 – informed the bended tube structure of the special edition frame. Keplinger says: ‘We used new technologies like 3D-printing and bending the titanium wire to be able to manufacture it on a big scale, exactly as the Bauhaus sought to do.’ The entire design took four months. ‘We also developed our own surface treatment for the 3D-printed parts so it has a nice matte surface and its colour stays,’ Keplinger says. The frame sits as a sculpture on the face or on a shelf.

The Bauhaus strived to formulate a way of working where craft came together with concept, and skill with social influence. Its teachers reunified practical disciplines like weaving, painting and handicrafts. ‘Art rises above all methods; in itself it cannot be taught, but the crafts certainly can be,’ Walter Gropius wrote in the Bauhaus Manifesto in April 1919. Neubau’s philosophy to mix art with new technologies and mass production isn’t dissimilar. ‘The Bauhaus didn’t completely fulfill its aims because the things they created were very expensive but some of the staff and students really had an aim to make design for the masses, a strong social conscience,’ Keplinger says.

The Walter & Wassily frame with its clear, unadorned lines, executed using limited materials as sustainably as possible, expresses Gropius’s ethos: ‘priority of creativity; freedom of individuality, but strict study discipline.’ It brings together function, form and fashion.

INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Neubau website

While we’re used to exhibitions tracing the topography and architecture of London’s streets, or shows tracing the city’s sociopolitical or photographic heritage, Cubitts has us seeing clearly with its latest exhibition – one which zooms in on London’s history in the field of optometry.

‘Retrospective: London, Spectacles and Half a Millenia’ – an outdoors exhibition located a stone’s throw from the optical brand’s Jermyn Street boutique in St James’s – is made up of a tessellation of glass and timber vitrines showcasing glasses, materials and memorabilia that document London’s optometrical history.

Ever pondered when the first pair of glasses with temples was made? (by Edward Scarlett in 1730). What the first pair of sunglasses looked like? (horse-shoe shaped, gold-rimmed and made by James Ayscough in 1752). Or if opticals were say prescribed as a cure to sexually transmitted diseases? (blue tinted lenses were believed to cure syphilis). Now you have the optometrical answer.

The exhibition documents the earliest age of optometry, tracing the invention of sunglasses to counter what James Ayscough termed as ‘offensive glaring light’, the evolution of fashion-focused frames (cat-eyes were the first sartorial shape), the array of now extremely stylish NHS frames available during the 1970s, and the possibilities of creating glasses in a variety of sustainable materials, like a natural fibre glass made from wool.

The oldest pair of glasses were found in London’s Trig Lane and are nearly 600 years old. In celebration of six centuries of spectacles, Cubitts has also created a new pair made from materials found mudlarked from the banks of the River Thames. A Frame for London features a bullet from the Second World War, clay smoking pipes, a Victorian marble, and like the earliest pair picked up in the city, animal bones.

‘People really don’t know a huge amount about the history of optometry,’ muses Cubitts' founder Tom Broughton. This is the perfect pitstop for sharpening your focus.

INFORMATION
‘Retrospective: London, Spectacles and Half a Millenia’ is on view until 15 February. For more information, visit the Cubitts website

ADDRESS

St James’s Market Pavilion
11 St Alban’s Street
St James’s
London
SW1Y 4SQ

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

It was a pair of Persol frames that first piqued Freddie Elborne’s interest in opticals. ‘My dad had a really old pair,’ says the founder and creative director of the London-based sunglasses brand Monc. ‘When I was young I considered them a real style piece.’

Fast forward to 2016, and Elborne had quit his Cambridge-based job at a design agency – where he worked across retail, packaging and product design – moved to London, and launched Monc. ‘I thought to myself, “are you seriously going to put your all into this, commit, and take a huge risk”’, he says.

Luckily, it was a gamble which paid off. Elborne’s craftsmanship-focused label offers a range of timeless and versatile unisex styles, from the scholastic circular framed ‘London Fields', which also feature extended earpieces, to the aviator-inspired ‘Kreuzberg’, which boasts a sleek metal bridge. ‘The shapes came out of a huge research task I undertook during the year I was designing. They’re inspired by people I met along the way.’

Elborne fused tradition with technology in his quest to find the artisans that would design his frames, searching the hashtag #HandmadeInItaly on Instagram. ‘I emailed 50 related brands,' he says. ‘Five of them came back to me, and one offered to take me to their factory. The next week I flew out to Naples and went to a tiny village with a welcoming family-run workshop.’

As part of his research process Elborne also looked into the accoutrements that come with opticals. As well as UK-produced tanned bovine leather sunglasses pouches and micro-fibre cloths – ‘hard cases are great on holiday, but often too big for your everyday bag’ – each frame comes with a practical pocket-size tightening screwdriver. ‘I didn’t want to leave any stone unturned when I launched the designs,’ he says. ‘Our maintenance kit ensures users can keep everything safe, tight and fitting well.’ Now that’s a brand mantra worth setting your sights on.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Monc website

Espresso cups tinkle on a marble table as Franck Bonnet and Pierre Bonnefille talk animatedly on the first floor of bespoke eyewear brand Maison Bonnet’s Paris atelier. Situated near Place des Victoires, the space – a welcoming, polished salon in velvety dark tones – opened in 2009 and was designed by Bonnefille, one of France’s leading interior architects. Now, the loquacious duo are working together again on a new atelier on London’s Stafford Street, set to open in late June.

‘Around 60 per cent of my clients are foreigners, and they come to Paris once a year on holiday – but they find themselves in London almost monthly for work, so it made sense,’ explains Bonnet, the CEO and fourth-generation owner of the family business. ‘It also made sense to continue our collaboration with Pierre.’

The pair’s professional relationship is anything but typical. ‘We have known each other for about 20 years,’ says Bonnefille. ‘I do the maison’s interiors, and Franck does my glasses. But we’re also friends.’ The duo share a love for beautifully made objects (like Bonnet’s father, Bonnefille is a Maître d’Art, a title awarded by the French Ministry of Culture to distinguished professionals from the arts and crafts) as well as a passion for good conversation, saying that it sparks their creativity.

‘Conversation is everything at Maison Bonnet. With new clients, we set up a meeting that can last up to two hours, where we just talk about their tastes, their work, their style icons, their dreams. We need to get to know them as much as possible to offer them the most personalised model we can,’ says Bonnet.

Adds Bonnefille, ‘With my designs, I’m just mimicking what Franck does: we meet up and he tells me his vision. My job is to give it material form, as an interior.’

In the case of the Stafford Street atelier, that vision includes warm lighting, multiple mirrors and bespoke furniture that nods to Bonnefille’s Metamorphosis collection (which, in turn, features forms inspired by rocks and minerals, and texture courtesy of powdered copper) as well as to vintage British design. It features London-sourced antiques, including display cabinets that originally belonged to the British Museum, the drawers of which Bonnefille has worked into a new table.

‘They are in Cuban mahogany, which is protected right now, so quite rare. They are about 200 years old and were disposed of by the museum, which is how they ended up in our hands. I was obsessed with them, not only for their link to traditional British design, but also because recycling them meant breathing new life into them, making them dynamic and modern, rather than just static pieces of furniture against a wall,’ says Bonnefille. ‘That sort of metamorphosis is pretty much what Franck does when he takes a vintage tortoiseshell to mould it into a pair of glasses.’

And yet, adds Bonnet, in the end his process is as much about humility and self-effacement as it is about knowing how to source precious materials or having unique expertise. ‘With my glasses, what I want is to frame a person’s face in the most natural, comfortable and becoming way. Nothing can distract from the client’s personality, which is why I don’t even sign the glasses.’

The same discretion applies to the interior design, where, according to Bonnefille, it’s never about the big statement pieces, but about the ones that will best showcase Maison Bonnet’s artistry. ‘There’s nothing I hate more than those big empty spaces with a giant chandelier and a luxury handbag on top of a single marble column,’ he states, adding that he prefers to create a sense of intimacy. ‘After all, there is something very intimate in the way Franck looks into a client’s eyes while he’s trying glasses on them.’

It’s such moments – encounters and conversations – that inspire both men, much more than sitting long hours in an office. ‘It’s all about the stories,’ says Bonnefille, ‘which is why I’ll be adding some objects, on top of the display cabinets, that will tell further stories.’ He’s keeping quiet on the details for now.

‘They are a surprise, even for me,’ says Bonnet. ‘I guess we’ve found one subject we can’t have a lengthy conversation about.’§

As originally featured in the June 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*231)

INFORMATION

Maison Bonnet Stafford Street opens late June. For more information, visit the Maison Bonnet website

ADDRESS

7 Stafford Street
London W1

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

Prada, Arthur Arbesser, Chanel

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Lindberg website, Arthur Arbesser website, Silhouette website, Prada website and Chanel website

With its art and film prizes for women, Max Mara has long been a proponent of female recognition in the arts. In November 2015, the luxury Italian label extended this encouragement to the field of optical design, collaborating with the artist Maya Hayuk on a reinterpretation of its studded sunglasses designs in kaleidoscopic ‘stained-glass’ form. Now for S/S 2017, Max Mara has paired up with the British-born, New York-based visual artist Shantell Martin on a limited-edition sunglasses collection, the doodle-inspired artwork of each pair unique to the wearer.

‘The collection is super playful yet sophisticated,’ Martin explains of the curving cat-eye designs, created with the Italian optical company Safilo. They each feature digitally reproduced sections of an expansive black pen illustration she created on canvas for the collaboration. ‘The fact no two pairs are the same really explores the idea of self-identity,’ she explains of the project, which is titled ‘Prism in Motion’ and conceptualised around the idea of the multi-faceted Max Mara woman.

Martin's stream of consciousness style features scribbled words and abstract faces inspired by those she meets, in black marker on a white background. 'There is something magical about working with black and white,’ Martin explains. ‘People are often drawn to different areas of the work and rediscover new things on subsequent viewings.’

She used innovative techniques to create her Max Mara artwork. ‘I 3D printed this drawing tool which allows me to draw with multiple markers, or different thicknesses of markers at the same time,’ she explains.‘I used that to create the initial framework of the drawing. Then I filled these negative spaces with words, faces and characters that reflected the idea of movement and conversation.’

The use of black and white resonates with Max Mara’s own aesthetic; the brand is renowned for its refined and natural colour palette. Its most recent A/W 2017 collection features an exploration of browns, reds, greys and blacks. ‘Anyone can create a line, but a lot of time goes into making a simple black line recognisably yours,' Martin says.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Max Mara website, and the Shantell Martin website

Inspired by her early training as an architect in Belgrade, London-based fashion designer Roksanda Illincic has always maintained an interest in industrial fabrications. From dresses embroidered with PVC thread and plastic confetti, to undulating silhouettes inspired by the sculptures of Julia Dault, plastic-focused flourishes are a signature of her bright and colour-blocked designs. Further expanding her growing accessories line, the designer has now experimented with bold acetate on a debut range of sunglasses, created in collaboration with luxury optical brand Cutler and Gross.

Illincic explored the extensive Cutler and Gross archive during her design process. ‘The collection was inspired by vintage frames and modernist shapes,’ she says of the six oversized styles in unusual colourways, like emerald green and mustard yellow, and tortoiseshell and peach. ‘The combinations are off beat and often unexpected which is a natural extension of my ready to wear line, as with my collections,’ Illincic adds.

Placing focus on the playfulness of transparent plastics, Illincic used Italian acetate for both the temples and frontals of her handmade designs. ‘Roksanda’s interest in architecture and structure informed the choice of sheer colour, which allowed the metal wire core to be visible,’ explains Marie Wilkinson, the design director of Cutler and Gross.

Illincic also looked to the London-based contemporary art collective Troika for design inspiration. Interested in spatial experience and human perception, Troika’s installations include Dark Matter (2014), an opaque hanging sculpture that resembles a square, circle or a hexagon depending on your vantage point; and All Colours White (2016), a painting made of light, which rotates from a band of white to a kaleidoscopic spectrum of colours. Illincic’s own designs play with such perceptions. One design features black hexagonal frontals and midnight blue temples, a colour only visible when the frames are viewed from an angle. ‘The shapes are about allowing women to wear the beauty found in design, in a subversive way,’ Illincic explains.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Roksanda website, the Cutler and Gross website, and the Troika website

Cubist art, the birthplace of counter culture and structured formalism: new niche sunglass makers take inspiration from sources far and wide.

Although he lived most of his life in France, Juan Gris was born in Madrid. La Mujer Sentada (Seated Woman) forms part of the collection at Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza – one of the city’s most revered art houses. When approached to create a collection of ‘Made in Madrid’ eyewear exclusively for the museum’s shop, the young company Nina Mûr looked to La Mujer Sentada.

'The depth and palette of colours in the painting are perfect for what we wanted to do,' explains Davide Fichera, co-founder of the company. His background is in furniture making, and his partner Lorena Serrano Peinado comes from a family of opticians. For this collection, they turned to the artist-designer Gala Fernández to hand paint the oversized wooden frames in the muted tones and oblique lines recognisable to the cubist masterpiece.

'Our brand name refers to Sausalito, the little beach next to San Francisco,' explains Monika Fink, one half of Zurich-based Sol Sol Ito. 'We always had an affinity for this area – although we are very Swiss.' One summer, together with her business partner Sandra Kaufmann, she was cycling from the beach to Haight-Ashbury, when they came across a young man seated on the sidewalk, banging out poems on an old typewriter. One of his proses, extolling the summer breeze and of ‘beauty way to nice to be bothered with the toils’, became inspiration for their brand. 

Described as ‘sunglasses for pleasure-seekers’, their frames are made from high-quality, high-gloss acetate and feature patent-protected, twin steel detachable and interchangeable arms. Already winners of several accolades – including a recent German Design Award – Swiss precision is as much as part of their DNA as the youthful and radiant mood they instantly create.

London-based Blyszak has ridden the current wave for round eyewear as well. A self-confessed eyewear obsessive, Andrew Blyszak started his company after the arms of his beloved flea market frames finally fell off. Handcrafting, uncommon materials and classic forms are his guiding principles. Blyszak’s frames are crafted in metal and ethically-sourced water buffalo horn; either standalone or combined into striking frame and arm combinations.

The company’s third collection, which will hit haute eyewear retailers in January 2017, sees the same imaginative pairing and a bold new square format. For metals, moss green has been added to the mix of matte black, brushed silver and YSL blue. But it’s the horn that bucks the trends. The material is hand-pressed over three days to ensure longevity and is used for the nose pads as well, creating a seamless form and fit. 

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Nina Mûr website; the Sol Sol Ito website; and the Blyszak website

Roberto Vedovotto likes to think of Kering Eyewear as a startup, a lean, mean entrepreneurial upstart bringing innovation and disruption to a business dominated by a few too-powerful players. But if this is a startup, it’s an unusually smart one. No Ikea trestle-tables and sticker-plastered laptops here, none of the scruffy urgency of Silicon Valley or Shoreditch.

Vedovotto’s startup is backed – to what percentage has not been disclosed – by luxury goods giant Kering Group (formerly known as Gucci Group) with a 20-strong brand stable that includes Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney. And its new inside-but-outside eyewear division has suitably glamorous quarters in Villa Zaguri, a smartly restored Renaissance pile just outside Padua.

Less than half an hour’s drive west of Venice, this is the heartland of Italy’s high-end, high-skill manufacturing base. And the local skill set includes eyewear. Safilo, the world’s second largest eyewear company after Luxottica – and the company that, until recently, made eyewear under licence for a number of Kering brands – is based here.

Vedovotto, a former Safilo CEO, formed Kering Eyewear in September 2014 with the clear intention of challenging the established order and pushing a new business model for the industry. A report by Exane BNP Paribas called the launch an ‘eyewear revolution’.

The luxury goods industry has long licensed out its fragrance, eyewear and beauty businesses, even though these are the real money-spinners. They are also ‘entry products’, the point where younger customers especially get their first ‘experience’ of a brand and hopefully develop a taste for more.

This arrangement can seem counter-intuitive, particularly when it comes to eyewear. The premium fashion segment of the eyewear market could now be worth as much as $12.5bn. It is also an area with massive growth potential. Licensing arrangements then mean not only a loss of creative control, but also a loss of pure profit. The brands pull in huge royalty payments, but they are only a percentage of the possible returns. At the time of the launch of Kering Eyewear, Vedovotto said the Kering Group’s eyewear business was worth €350m, generating royalties of €50m.

However, while the luxury goods giants have been buying back licences in other categories, most have considered producing and distributing eyewear too far out of their comfort zone. ‘Eyewear is a very technical product,’ says Vedovotto. ‘It also has a completely distinct distribution model.’ Supplying thousands of independent opticians around the world is definitely not part of the luxury goods group's skill set. Still, with a number of Kering licences coming up for renewal, Vedovotto and Kering Group CEO François-Henri Pinault thought it was time to take a risk. The rewards were simply too great to ignore.

Kering Eyewear is based around what Vedovotto calls a mixed-model. Essentially, it has taken back control of design and product development, working with the creative teams of each brand, marketing and brand management, logistics and distribution. The only link of the ‘value chain’ that it hasn’t ‘internalised’ is manufacturing. But instead of being locked into deals with the licensed manufacturers, it is now free to deal with a whole range of specialist makers. This new model means that Kering Eyewear can ‘create products that are fully aligned with the brands’ DNA’, as Vedovotto puts it. It will also look at upping quality without ramping up prices and undermining the ranges’ entry product promise.

The man charged with making all this happen is Kering Eyewear’s creative director Massimo Zuccarelli, also formerly of Safilo. He heads up a 25-strong team in Padua, which managed to put out nine eyewear collections less than a year after Kering Eyewear was launched (and while their renaissance villa was still being decorated and without Wi-Fi. ‘It was kind of a nightmare, but the energy was incredible,’ says Zuccarelli).

These launch ranges included a debut eyewear collection for the Milan-based jewellery brand Pomellato. Since then, collections by Tomas Maier and Christopher Kane have also been added. The creative relationship with the brands varies, says Zuccarelli: ‘Some teams come up with a very full briefing with shapes, designs, technical drawings and materials. Others present more of a vision. We don’t have a rule. We have the right support for anyone.’ Kane seems to support that. ‘I showed them my crappy sketches and they made them a reality,’ he says, only half-joking.

What seems to most excite Zuccarelli, though, is the range of manufacturers – and thus finishes, materials and effects – he can now show the brands. He seems particularly excited about the Japanese makers that Kering is now working with, even if costs mean he has to use them sparingly. ‘There are a lot of niche eyewear brands in Japan and we are the first people to use those makers for other brands. The finishing of the Japanese makers is different because they are so obsessed with vintage; the galvanic treatment, the polishing, the raw materials they use, the acetates, it really recalls vintage eyewear.’

The group now works with over 30 different suppliers. But, as Vedovotto says, this is not just fancy and indulgence on their part. This wealth of materials and finishes means they can produce ranges with distinct looks and identities. With 11 brands already up and running, Gucci on the way and long term plans to launch more, cannibalisation of sales is an obvious risk. ‘I don’t want to do the same thing as everyone else,’ says Kane. ‘They are constantly bringing these new techniques and technologies to the table so everyone has options and can do something different.’

Inevitably, perhaps, it is with the debut eyewear ranges that Zuccarelli has had the most freedom and pure fun. For Tomas Maier, he has developed a small range of contemporary aviators with flat lenses and other reworkings of American classics.

With Pomellato, the job was to create a range that somehow built on the brand identity without doing the obvious. ‘We wanted to do something different from just putting jewels or stones on the glasses,’ says Zuccarelli. ‘The idea was to replicate the feeling and the craftsmanship. And it wasn’t easy. We worked on the acetates to replicate the colour of the stones and the polishing and the finishing to replicate the feeling of the stones. The result is incredible.’ Sometimes these vivid acetates in different colours are melded in one frame, to startling effect. As Pomellato creative director Vincenzo Castaldo says, the Kering Eyewear team has also managed to do something smart and playful with a key part of the Pomellato design language. ‘Traditionally, a griffe was just a functional element to keep a stone in place,’ says Castaldo. ‘But in the early 1990s, Pomellato transformed it into something decorative in its own right, part of the overall aesthetics.’ The griffe reappears on the eyewear collection, transformed into a hinge.

With other brands there were different challenges. For Stella McCartney, the team worked with acetate specialists Mazzuchelli to develop a sustainable bio-acetate. And Zuccarelli is determined to use sustainable materials across all ranges within a few years. Material development is key, he says, and he is keen on using new and unique materials, when economies of scale allow. Zuccarelli is more than conscious that the venture will fail if he can’t bring all this novelty and innovation in under a certain price, or produce ranges with a ‘price architecture' that fits the brand and the market.

‘The prototypes we show the brands are exactly as they will be in the final production,’ he says. ‘Every problem, every detail has been worked out. We understand how it can be industrialised and how much it will cost. And for every prototype, there are alternatives, fully costed in the same way. It is very difficult because there is this balance between creativity and industrial design. And we are in the middle. We want to create proper collections based on market needs.’

There are still those, though, who think that however in tune they are with market needs, Kering Eyewear will struggle, at least at first. Startup costs have been significant. A renaissance villa full of the right kind of talent doesn’t come cheap. And when Kering Eyewear was launched, its prize licence, Gucci, still had four years to run. It had to pay Safilo €90m to terminate the licence two years early (Safilo will continue to produce the collection, at least for the next four years). Gucci will become Kering Eyewear property at the end of 2016, and the success of the first Gucci collection is essential.

What Luxottica and Safilo offered, apart from manufacturing know-how, is a huge distribution network and sales force. An Exane BNP Paribas’ report on the launch of Kering Eyewear identified getting to grips with distribution as probably its biggest challenge. And two years on, Luca Solca, head of luxury goods at Exane BNP Paribas, remains unconvinced that the new operation will deliver better returns than the previous licensing deals. ‘Kering Eyewear is an interesting experiment, but it looks like an over-ambitious business proposition to me.’

Vedovotto thinks he can prove them wrong. Distribution will be handled by a dedicated sales team, rather than agents on commission, which is how the licence holders handle it. And though the opticians, department stores and airport outlets won’t be neglected, there will be more accent on Kering’s directly-operated boutiques.

The Kering model is not something Safilo and Luxottica will want to see prosper, especially Safilo, which is far more reliant on its licence deals, but Vedovotto insists that the market is big enough to allow for happy commercial co-habitation. Nor does he see other groups and brands rushing to follow the Kering Eyewear example. ‘The business model we have decided to go for is not for everyone. There are only a few groups that can potentially afford an initiative like this.’

Kering Eyewear is not the only revolutionary in the market though. Warby Parker, for example, has developed from a cult online brand to a serious player that’s now opening its own stores. Vedovotto feels he shares a kinship with Warby Parker in terms of a startup’s flexibility and derring-do. And, ultimately, he believes this is what will get them through. ‘All the people here have the entrepreneurial spirit that is key to this initiative,’ he says. ‘This is the most difficult thing that any of us has done in our lives. But that’s the interesting part. It’s a challenge and a huge opportunity.’

As originally featured in the September 2016 issue of Wallpaper* (W*210)

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Kering Eyewear website

Photography: Albrecht Fuchs

With rising environmental concerns among consumers, many companies are striving to make products that are more eco-friendly – and no product epitomises this new awareness quite like 'Collection 1' from Crafting Plastics Studio.  

Launched at Spazio Rossana Orlandi during Salone del Mobile, 'Collection 1' is a new range of sunglasses like no other. The result of innovative research conducted by Crafting Plastics Studio, each pair of glasses in the new collection is unique and handcrafted which, the studio claims, blesses each pair with ‘a distinct personality’. Truly innovative, the sunglasses have unique lifespans – designed to biodegrade once no longer in regular use.

The brand behind the ecological sunglasses was originally conceived for a Masters project by designers Vlasta Kubusova and Verena Michels. Now working in collaboration with material scientists and having developed its own bioplastic, the studio’s ambition is to develop products right down from the raw material, stating that, ‘our pursuit is to be in full control of the lifespan of the product, from its origin through the final product until its inevitable decay’.

Although the designs for the sunglasses are not finalised, the studio does intend to release them as a limited ‘imperfect’ collection – with hopes to collaborate on a wider release with eyewear companies, material producers and distributors in the near future.

Quirky by design and eco-friendly by nature, the collection is not only stylish but provides a thrilling glimpse into the future of product materiality.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Crafting Plastics Studio website

It takes two mind-and-body oriented designers to solve a sporting eyewear 'problem'. Max Vallot (ex-Saint Laurent) and Tom Daly (ex-Acne) are the brainy, elegant men behind District Vision, a new Tribeca-based eyewear studio. Their biggest motivation was to reconcile wellness, active lifestyles, high tech and fashion – something they've successfully done with the Keichii performance sunglasses. The model – their very first – has been an instant hit at the brand's illustrious stockists, which include Dover Street Market, Colette, and The Webster, among others.

The secret: behind a minimal, almost simplistic design is some haut-performance engineering – though you'll have to test them to fully assess the comfort value added to your workout. Developed over two years in Japan, the models are featherweight (23g), comprising a beta titanium core with a sweat resistant coating, and featuring killer details like adjustable tips to hold them firmly in place behind your ears and discrete anti-sliding pads on the nose.

Three shatterproof polycarbonate lenses will suit any outdoor situation: 'Sports Yellow' is a high light transmission lens, perfect for brightening early mornings or dusky evenings; 'Water Gray' is a polarising lens devised for aquatic pursuits (factoring a liquid resistant oleophobic coating); while 'Sky G15' will sun-proof mid-day tennis matches by only allowing 15 per cent of light to permeate your vision.

The superlative build quality doesn't end there: even a handwoven strap, crafted in a Japanese kimono factory, feels precious to the touch.

INFORMATION

District Vision glasses, from $299. For more information, visit District Vision’s website

We can't help but wonder what legendary Scottish American steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie would have made of his role as muse for the latest set of coveted frames from hipster eyewear brand, Warby Parker. 

Crafted in premium, lightweight Japanese titanium with coil temples, Warby Parker's round-lensed 'Cooper' glasses have been launched to mark the beginning of a new collaboration between the New York-based brand and the city's Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, housed in Carnegie's former 64-room mansion on 5th Avenue. The museum believes that Carnegie, a leader in disciplines from poetry to technology, 'embodied a spirit of inquiry that Cooper Hewitt continues to manifest', and was therefore an obvious source of inspiration for the limited edition frames. 

'Eyewear design can represent the best of form and function,' say Warby Parker co-founders and CEOs Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa. 'So we were thrilled to work with Cooper Hewitt, the only museum in the US exclusively devoted to both historic and contemporary design, to create an optical frame.'

As well as the new frames, the collaboration saw the brand team with the museum to design a month-long public course for high school students at the museum’s Cooper Hewitt Design Center in Harlem. Focusing on design-based problem solving and social entrepreneurship, the hands-on curriculum helped students to develop projects they believed would help alleviate problems within their communities.

And to continue in the spirit of giving, for every set of 'Cooper' frames sold, Warby Parker will continue to distribute frames to those in need – a practice that has been routine at the brand since its inception.

The name Polaroid evokes memories of pulling faces and excited anticipation as images come into focus. Sadly its method of photography has faded along with those old photographs pinned to so many bulletin boards. But before the instant cameras there were Polaroid sunglasses, accessories that used the company's patented polarising material to diffuse white glare and increase visibility.

Polaroid's sunglasses have managed to survive the technological revolution - the brand was snapped up last year by the Italian eyewear conglomerate Safilo - and last night they celebrated 75 years with an event at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and a new line of 10 styles called Polaroid Plus, which will be available for purchase in Spring 2013.

The MoMA event featured local DJs the Misshapes and an accompanying exhibition celebrating some of the brand's most enduring styles - like the leather-sided aviator glasses that reappeared from time to time throughout the 20th century after their debut by Polaroid in the 1930s.

Some interactive displays were also designed to literally throw guests in the spotlight, so they could experience for themselves the polarising technology, updated for the new generation of glasses (which, incidentally, were on hand for trying on). Also on show, was an original pair from 1946, which sits within MoMA's collection of Architecture and Design after being donated to MoMA by Edgar Kaufmann Jr, heir to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater.