April 2020

From lockdown, Nina Mûr launch design project

#THEGOODQUARANTINE Collection by @nina_mur_eyewearSpanish label is producing its next edition in virtual collaboration with opticians through the lockdown

Nina Mûr founders Lorena Serrano and Davide Fichera have launched a sustainable design project during the coronavirus quarantine – out of their home in Madrid – to share the creation of their next edition of eyewear with opticians. Their aim is to produce something both creative and unique at this unprecedented time through virtual connection with friends and optical partners.

The design duo plans to create five unique collaborative styles in the Quarantine collection – underlining the sustainable concept and production typical of the Nina Mûr brand while bringing together a community of like-minded people to create a human connection and shared ‘creative’ experience beyond the isolation and lonely existence of lockdown. Above: Lorena working from home on lockdown in Madrid (April 2020) – pictured with son Luca

“We will create these glasses with our usual sustainable materials, principally wood, and our usual local production in Madrid,” explains Serrano. “We have asked friends and optician contacts taking part to provide a drawing or a photo of a drawing as a starting point. We have people working on this project around the world, in Japan, France, Italy and the USA. Once the designs are in they will then vote themselves on their favourite designs – we propose to create the most ‘popular’ five styles through this process, once the voting is completed the week after next.”

#TheGoodQuarantine Collection by @nina_mur_eyewear + @nina_more_eyewear with be available for purchase in May 2020. Watch this space to see the collection soon! For more information visit www.ninamur.com

 

Gogosha Optique, Echo Park, Los Angeles

Julia Gogosha’s Echo Park flagship is just 2 years old. She describes it with a twinkle in her eye. “A Tetris cathedral artspace playground is how I imagined it…with different sources of inspiration, including artists, sculptors and works of art for which I am passionate.”

A minimal colour palette, injected with saturated tones of lilac, coral and mint, contributes to a bold deliberately architectural interior with the wow factor, designed with precision to house one of the most carefully curated selections of eyewear by internationally acclaimed independent designers. A variety of sunglass frames are displayed, intentionally visible, demonstrating their colour, shape and character and inviting customers to view them like works of art, and try them on. While the optical frames are housed in custom flat file/bleacher seating hybrid sculptural furniture cladded in speckled playground rubber. The space has been designed to include a state-of-the-art in-house workshop. Above: Julia Gogosha, Gogosha Optique – photo by Stephen Schauer

Interior sunglasses display: Gogosha Optique (photograph by Stephen Schauer)

Curated with “the best of each category”, the boutique offers a mix of design-focused core collections such as theo and Anne & Valentin, and design brands offering a variation of price points including Kaleos from Barcelona. Two internationally successful homegrown collections – Ahlem and JacquesMarieMage – are represented alongside some of the most avantgarde designers of the moment, Rigards from Hong Kong, Masahiro Marayuma from Japan and Kuboraum from Berlin. Julia is also innovative in collaborations and events with designers and labels bringing where she can a fresh slant to how she presents them to her customers. Launching for Spring, she has a new project underway with Dom Vetro, an LA label specializing in made-to-order and fully customizable frames – and more collaborative concepts are coming soon.

Gogosha Optique (photograph by Stephen Schauer)

For the current unprecedented situation, as the Coronavirus crisis affects businesses globally, we also talked about what this has entailed so far. In March, Gogosha was open for daily emergencies with one member of staff available in store to fulfil orders and attend to immediate needs such as repairs. The entire Gogosha team have also been providing virtual fittings during the lockdown from home. “We’ve been doing distance fitting appointments intuitively for years, mainly for longstanding clients who might have moved out of the area,” says Julia. “We will continue to adapt and streamline our services to deliver glasses right to the customer’s door. We consider vision essential and will continue to creatively pivot to best service our clients’ vision needs virtually and with a greater appreciation and greater focus on connection and conversation in a time of separation for the safety of humanity.”

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Gogosha Optique, Echo Park was designed by John Chen of Formation Association. Gogosha first opened in 2008 in the former location of Silver Lake, east of Hollywood. Gogosha Optique is the winner of the Vision Expo Third Annual OPTImum Retail Award announced in April 2020. For previous articles on Gogosha on Eyestylist visit https://www.eyestylist.com/2017/05/gogosha-pop-2-0/ and https://www.eyestylist.com/2013/10/gogoshagoldsmith-shop-in-shop/

1555 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026 – www.gogosha.com

 

RockOptika: classic with a twist

British design label RockOptika takes the classic forms of vintage eyewear and re-creates them with the same finesse and style of yesteryear with a delicate slant on colour and sizing for the modern spectacle wearer. Designed in the UK and produced in a small artisan factory in the Jura, the collection is featured in a new photographic series by brand owner and photographer Tom Herrington who shoots his frames on friends and family (above, Philly wears model Sinistre).

Sinistre in Crystal

Model Sinistre, one of the signature pieces in the line, is available in several colorways including crystal, black Havana and Greengage Crumble. The art deco styling with key hole bridge was inspired by a 1930’s children’s spectacle found at a brocante in Lalinde, South West France. For more information and to find the frames from this unique British label visit www.rockoptika.com

Oliver Goldsmith Sunglasses

Claire Goldsmith on her family legacy

Since 1926, fans of the Oliver Goldsmith label have been drawn to the pure heritage style and signature design flair of this British brand which continues under the direction of Claire Goldsmith, the great granddaughter of the founder. Claire took the business under her wing in 2005, leaving a steady regular job to reignite the tremendous legacy and style of her family’s historic company.

In a new video, Claire talks about the origins of the business, the release of Oliver Goldsmith “sunspecs” at Fortnum & Mason in Picadilly in London in the late 1930s, and the appearance of OG in Vogue in 1942 – the first acknowledgment by a fashion magazine of the potential of spectacles as a statement style accessory.

Above: The iconic OG style Yatton – first created in London in 1964 – has been re-released in the gorgeous colour combination described as White Christmas Maze. The soft geometric shaping of the design provides the iconic dramatic glamour typical of the Oliver Goldsmith label. https://www.olivergoldsmith.com/product/yatton/

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The video (above) – ‘An introduction to Oliver Goldsmith by Claire Goldsmith’ – includes rare footage and imagery of early OG designs, and the most famous people who have worn the glasses through the last decades…personalities who include musicians, actors, actresses and members of the royal family whose eyewear was a natural enhancement to their style and personality.

Decades: The 1930’s: small sunglasses

Today, the Spring season brings new colourful releases to the iconic OG collection which preserves its history and artisan quality, in designs reignited through the label’s extensive and carefully preserved archives – and the intricate skill and technological benefits of modern eyewear crafting. In the Decades collection, this thick rimmed round sunglass style pays homage to the 1930s, and the Hollywood stars of the era. The frame is handmade in Japan from acetate and comes with 2-base flat 100% UVA/UVB lenses with backside AR coating.

Icons Manhattan 1960 – as worn by Audrey Hepburn

One of the most famous styles in the Oliver Goldsmith repertoire, the Manhattan sunglasses – represent classical statement style with the perfect timeless balance of shape and colour. As well as the iconic dark and light tortoise versions, the Manhattan sunglasses are made in contemporary tones of mocha or the delightful ‘rain’ colour – a delicately mottled blue/black finish. Find out more about the iconic specs and sunglass styles by Oliver Goldsmith and visit the online store at www.olivergoldsmith.com