Boutiques

Our friends at independent luxury eyewear destination, Eyespot, are launching a new series of in-store events, dedicated to emerging designers. EYESPOT X COLLECTION will be run as a Pop Up shop featuring exceptional designer ranges, selected from around the world for a limited engagement. Some of the exciting new labels with be making their first appearance in the US, allowing customers to get a very special taste of the most creative and innovative small labels and, in many cases, to meet the designers behind the brand at the opening events.

Appearing for the first boutique exhibition is Mondelliani Glasses from Rome, whose collection will be launched in store on September 15^th and 16^th from 10am until 5pm (open to everyone). Flying in from Italy, founder of the brand, Federico Mondello and family member and designer Roberta will be available through the weekend at Eyespot, to talk about the creation of the collection and their background in optics in Rome, where the Mondello family whose first optical store opened in 1975, now own several optical boutiques themselves.

Typical of the eye-catching handmade collection is the Eolie Collection, comprising glamorous sunglasses inspired by the beautiful, vivid colours of the Mediterranean and the Aeolian Islands off the coast of Sicily. These super sunglass styles have uniquely flattering shapes and fresh toned, matching high-quality lenses produced by world leader Zeiss for an “exceptional visual experience”.

Also exhibiting is the Birds Collection, inspired by the play of colours of the feathers of birds, and the brand’s avantgarde Rigadritto range, a tribute to great icons of international cinema. Minimalist lines and exciting lens shapes come together in this exclusive artisan series. The label will also show a super collaborative limited edition line with US textile designer, John Robshaw.

EYESPOT is the only retailer in New England carrying this prestigious collection from Italy. The collection will be available at the store following the Event this coming weekend and through to end of December 2017. The EYESPOT event takes place at One Boylston Street, The Street, Chestnut Hill, MA. For further information, visit https://eyespot.com/ – www.mondelliani.it Eyestylist.com is delighted to support the new EYESPOT x COLLECTION events. CN

Tom Herrington’s enthusiasm for handmade eyewear has led to the addition of new RockOptika Sports designs in 2017, dedicated to the needs of the road cyclist, and balancing traditional craftsmanship, vintage-inspired design ‘with style’, and subtly integrated technical attributes – an ambitious project. The collection has launched at RockOptika HQ in St Leonards (UK), a vintage-inspired store presenting the brand’s full collection of opticals, sunglasses and limited edition sunglasses as well as a few hand-picked designs from other British eyewear designers.

Careful research and detailed conversations with ex pros and amateur cyclists led to the production in France of two models, Jet-Pac and Allez. “Our goal was to design the most stylish glasses on the road. They also had to be totally fit for purpose,” explains the designer, who is also a cycling enthusiast.

Each model is produced in bespoke Italian acetate alongside classic tortoiseshells with a vintage feel – quite different from an average sports frame. A high-quality back coated anti-reflective lens and leather temple grips ensure the frame offers UV protection, comfort, and a stable and snug fit on the face – factors that contribute to enhancing the experience of the cyclist (and their style) in variable weather conditions.

RockOptika frames are designed in the UK, and made in France, in the traditional spectacle-making region of the Jura. The frames are available from selected opticians and the flagship RockOptika store in St Leonards (UK), as well as online at www.rockoptika.com CN

Etnia Barcelona released official images of its flagship store by Santa Maria del Mar (El Born, Barcelona) in April. Remodelled by Jordi Tió, the project also involved interior designers – Lázaro Rosa-Violán, the design studio behind some of Barcelona’s most fashionable hotels and restaurants, including Boca Grande, El Nacional and Soho House Barcelona. Eyestylist visited the building in August 2017.

Etnia’s flagship store extends the brand identity of the Barcelona label in a stylish design focused building with two shop floors, showrooms, workshops, a terrace and a bar/entertainment space at the rooftop, with beautiful views over the city. Owned by David Pellicer, and created over 17 years ago, the Spanish eyewear label has become a top-selling European brand across the world – after particular success in France, as well as further afield, in the US and S. America.

The remodelling of the building was led by Jordi Tió, a design expert related to the design world of Vinçon (a former retail company in the Catalan city) and architect of the Barcelona and Berlin Camper Hotels, amongst others. The work involved the demolition of several bearing walls to create diaphanous spaces in the old building, as well as the lift well, running from top to bottom, with views of the different floors of the store. The façade has been strictly preserved, right down to the colours, respecting the original appearance of the building.

The shop interior speaks for itself. As well as some ‘Catalan’ touches in the colourful details  – the elegant lift is based on a classic Barcelona ‘ascensor’, the individual spaces offer a pleasurable experience for browsing and trying on frames, with recurring themes: furniture and mirrors with the feel of an old-fashioned barber’s shop, and central “bar” areas with mirrors and vintage “objets”  – recovered from old optical stores -, flowers and glass dome displays.

The furnishings and lighting portray a 1940s style, referencing different trades and spaces. From old operating theatre lights to a jeweller’s work bench or theatre dressing table with its light mirror, to create a kind of backstage feeling. The store also stocks art monographs and photography books, to underline the brand’s relationship with the world of the arts, a focus for many of their limited edition sunglasses. www.etniabarcelona.com  Eyestylist.com wishes to thank Noemi at Etnia Barcelona for arranging a tour of the store. CN

An avantgarde shop rarely passes us by and while Eyestylist hasn’t yet managed to visit, we look forward to this experience in the future. Monica Albanese agreed to talk to me about Iconaocchiali – Italy, and her new project with MiN New York.

What is your background?

Our store project was born in 2011 when I joined my sister Barbara’s company. The idea was for me to enhance her great technical know-how, with a new and different aesthetic direction. I am a collector of clothing, handbags and glasses. I have worked in the fashion industry for many years with a lot of different brands. I was also a teacher at the Istituto Marangoni, in Milan and Shanghai.

My family is important to me. They have taught me a lot about respect, beauty and a beautiful style of working. My sister taught me to entertain customers with professionalism and courtesy. She also taught me her love of taking care of the customer’s vision by being very careful to match the technology with beauty. My uncle is Paolo Seminara, who has taught me everything I know about eyewear. He is an important eyewear designer – he created the Vogue eyewear brand in the ’70s. It became a very successful brand – and was sold to Luxottica in the ’90s. Image above: Barbara and Monica Albanese

What is currently available in the shop? 

Our store is unusual and unexpected. I like it when people ask “what do you sell?” We like to amaze in a gentle and discreet way, choosing elegance and cultural “references” in eyewear. In our store, you can find niche brands. Some are strong on image, some are more valuable in the construction of the glasses and the choice of materials. Among the brands we have selected are Linda Farrow, Lotho, Platoy and Frency & Mercury.

We also love Kuboraum and Slave to Ancestors, the collection made entirely in leather.  We work with many more, including Jacques Durand, Sama Eyewear, Portrait, Robert La Roche, Lunor, Jean Francois Rey, and Orgreen.

You are also involved in a sunglasses collection with MiN NYC – how did this come about? Are you the only stockist of MiN in Italy? 
This is a funny story. A young man entered my former shop in Florence. He was very enthusiastic about the brand selection and the elegance of the store. From that moment on, we became friends, and this has developed into a working relationship. Matthew called me in the summer asking me if I wanted to work with him and Chad to create the MiN NEW YORK glasses line. I immediately accepted, and began to seek the right language that respected the aesthetic aptitude of their brand.
I am not the only stockist in Italy, but our store is like a “brand” showroom for MiN in Italy – since I’m directly involved in the creative side.
Last summer we presented our first part of the Eyewear Collection in Florence at Pitti Uomo; we also did Pitti Fragrance, and we went to New York for Vision Expo. We are brand new in eyewear, but already strong in the fragrance business.

What are the MiN Eyewear designs like and why has the perfume brand moved into eyewear?
Presenting fragrance and eyewear as a part of the same story is a completely new idea.
One by one we have created and translated every scent story into a spectacle in the form of glasses.
When we created every single style, we sprayed a cloud of perfume into the air and carried our emotions back and forth and went back to every place visited in Chad’s mind at the time of creating the scent.
The MiN New York fragrances are created to celebrate a moment, a minute of life (MiN as a dime of minute). We think that a better product can make life fuller and that through an authentic experience something of us is revealed, that was previously hidden. Physics and metaphysics. A journey within ourselves but with a propensity to life.

As a designer, what are your most important influences in Italy or outside Italy?
Usually my personal feeling is my starting point. My background is like a ‘chest’, filled with tastes and things that I choose and are the only thing that make me unique and special. As an italian woman I usually live among the flame of florentine architecture, I can see all the best painting exhibitions in Milan, where I live alf of my week (as a designer), I can travel north and sud for a week end, smiling and testing all the “colours” of life.

Mention anything else about your shop in Signa regarding the styling?
I love change. The store has taken shape in time and that it suits the flow of life with changing needs and what seems important or new at that time. For this reason we have not created any fixed structure, excluding a wall cabinet. Our project is born of the need to express in a simple and universal way (hence the choice of the ICONA name), the idea of the beautiful as a manifestation of an instantly recognizable functional aesthetic.
All the eyewear collections and the objects we sell (Grottaglie Ceramics, Monica Albanese Handbags, Bijoux bought in many travels, Objects of various nature and Pieces of Art) have been chosen through a careful search of what we really consider as the Icon and thus representing a style and elegance that will be an integral part of the customer who will choose them.
We like to think that we can present glasses and other products as small artistic masterpieces and design objects. CN Iconaocchiali, /29, Str. Vicinale Vecellio Tiziano, 2, 50058 Signa – Florence

Eyestylist wrote about Monocle, the optical ‘eyewear gallery’ in Rome, in June 2013 – https://www.eyestylist.com/2013/06/monocle-romes-eyewear-gallery/.

Four years on, the shop owned by Gabriele Vergerio, and managed by creative eyewear expert Carmen Cox, has been restyled – by architect Andrea Eusebi. The new interior highlights the individuality of the frame collections on display in a chic understated neutral setting that exudes finesse and attention to detail, typical of the store which is one of the leading eyewear boutiques in Europe.

The restyled interior is adorned with elegant details including materials such as Palisander and brushed iron, in a design that was commissioned exclusively for the store “to reflect the image of the owner Gabriele Vergerio” –  and realized in its entirety by skilled Italian artisans.
For 2017, Monocle highlights Jacques Marie Mage, Ahlem, Linda Farrow (newly selected), Matsuda, Dita, Thom Browne, Mykita, Hoffmann, Kuboraum, 8000 and the boutique’s own label, Monocle Eyewear. The store prides itself on providing an exquisite choice in hard-to-find designs, created to exacting standards of craftsmanship in luxurious, often unusual materials.

Monocle Eyeglasses gallery/Eyewear/Accessories, Via di Campo Marzio 13, 00186, Roma, Italy – www.monocle.it CN