Looking to the Future
21st April 2011 Potential budding young eyewear designers, students at London’s prestigious Royal College of Art – www.rca.ac.uk – were invited to submit their creations for the 2011 Optrafair, held in Birmingham this month. The participants let their imaginations flow, and used materials normally associated with eyewear, plus they experimented with the unusual – rice, twisted wire-work, silks, textured weaves and boiled wool. First prize winner Claire Zeng was inspired by a visit to London’s Gagosian Gallery to see a light exhibition. Zeng said that the architecture and colours of the Arizona dessert also tweaked her creativity. Her winning entry in acetate blends geometry and modernity, plus Zeng said she wanted some “playfulness”. UK frame manufacturers Premiere Optical Services, produced the prototypes. JG
