Rolf Spectacles
26th October 2011 Austria is a country that likes to live in its illustrious past, but in no way is it parochial. Vienna remains a great cultural capital, and throughout the country, creativity and innovation abound. For several eyewear designers, their location in this beautiful country with its legendary history, has an enormous influence on their work and creative endeavours. Eyestylist talks to these award-winning Austrians who are a major force in eyewear. First, we meet Christian Wolf at Rolf Spectacles.
“Everybody on the Rolf team grew up in the Tyrolean Alps, and we love the beautiful environment, and the wide range of possibilities to enjoy nature. The Alps recharge our mind and body, and give us inspiration for our work. Our surroundings deeply influence our attitude and style of work. We want to create something unique in the field of eyewear production. The frames in our collections are all named and inspired by old cars – we love old cars. We have a dream to renovate one old car on each continent, and design a special frame for each one of them.
“We are a young and open-minded team of creative people who love to work with living materials. We place great value on regionalism and that is why we try to produce the frames in our own facilities. A production abroad is not to be considered. We look for special materials all over the world, and the finishing is done locally. We use stone, bamboo, and seven different kinds of wood for our frames. Our newest result is a combination of wood and stone, and who knows what is coming next! We love what we do, and we are who we are!” www.rolf-spectacles.com JG