Creative spirits

Karin Stehr is an eyewear consultant with a passion and enthusiasm for independent design labels, much like our own. A former optical store owner, she has a wealth of knowledge about specialist optical retailing and loves the idea that she is able to inspire other opticians to fall in love with the independent eyewear collections – as she has. Her next unique launch are guided tours of the optical shows….

How have you developed such a passion for independent eyewear? Before starting in the eyewear business, I worked in a container leasing company. It was a great international atmosphere, but containers are just often dented, rusty or dirty. As a person with a sense of aesthetic and style, I couldn’t do that forever. When my husband wanted to start his own optical business, I knew: this was the right place for me. I had no idea about the profession at the time, but beautiful glasses fascinated me from the beginning. As early as 1989, we bought several independent brands for our new shop.

Tell us about the shop you owned. Why did you sell it? In 2005, I founded our second shop, Bellevue (Hamburg, Germany) because I wanted to focus exclusively on independent eyewear. For many years, this was my absolute dream job. I had a team that covered all the professional skills. I was able to live out my passions, my creativity and my strengths in customer advice, marketing and purchasing.

Of course, administration, controlling and organisation were also part of my tasks right from the start. In the last few years, however, I had to invest more and more time and energy in these areas of work. At some point I realised that as an entrepreneur I no longer felt as free as I had in the past. In the end, Covid-19 was not the reason, but it was the occasion to rethink my life planning. I wanted to start again and use all my experience, my contacts, my whole network within the independent eyewear segment as a basis for my new consulting work. I wanted to really enjoy my work again. Pictured above: Karin Stehr wearing Gotti frames (www.gotti.ch)

What are you working on now? I inspire and advise independent opticians to create their own individual and unique collection of independent brands. Today, it’s about having and communicating a distinctive positioning. If you have a personal affinity for it, independent labels are ideal for this.

Do you have an affinity with particular brands? Why are they so special? Of course, over the years I have come to know and appreciate some brands and the people behind them very well. I have a very trusting, friendly relationship with some of them. No matter whether they are designers or the creative heads of their companies: they are all passionate about what they do and extremely consistent in the implementation of their vision.

I know many others more fleetingly and always have the same spontaneous impression. They are creative, demanding people. They have a broad horizon, are open and communicative. I am very happy that I can now get to know many more of these exciting people through my new work.

How do you inspire other people to have the same passion as you regarding creative, artisan eyewear? I think there are many more opticians who would love to sell independent labels as well, but don’t dare to throw out the supposedly safe, well-known fashion brands. Many also have the desire to no longer be dependent on the global eyewear industry, to have a different, more attractive offer than the neighbouring shops. I show them the versatility, the stylistic range, the authenticity of the independents. This makes it possible to put together an individual selection of collections for each shop, perfectly suited to the location and the customers.

It is particularly inspiring to get to know the people behind the brands and to be personally introduced to their history, design philosophy and future prospects. That’s why I’ll be offering guided tours of the major trade fairs in future, which I’ll tailor perfectly to requirements beforehand. This way, even newcomers can quickly and deeply immerse themselves in the independent cosmos. Every personal trade fair conversation with a founder, owner and/or designer, and even more so every visit to a headquarters or even a production facility, inspires and inevitably leads to wanting to share this exciting background with one’s customers.

What frames do you wear personally, and has your eyewear journey along the way included many different styles of frames? Are you wearing bolder frames than ever before? I am one of those eyeglass wearers who has a large personal collection and wears them all. In total, I have, reasonably correctly glazed, about 30 pairs of glasses and 20 sunglasses. There is at least one of every brand I have had in the store during that time.  I have collected them for about 20 years, some of my earlier treasures are unfortunately now lost.

Besides the basics in black, grey and silver, I like to wear more unusual shapes, materials and colours. I choose my frame daily to match my clothes and mood. I love bold styles, but with my relatively small and narrow face, I don’t like a look that is quite so radical on me.  In suitable weather, I almost always wear a La Loop glasses chain so I have my sunglasses with me all the time.

Give us your top tip on what you believe is super hot in 2023? It took a few months, but now I love the revival of flat, angular shapes, especially in sunglasses. I still have a cool red and white Face a Face, which is about 15 years old. I’m having them re-glazed now! To find out more about Karin’s work at True Eyewear visit https://true-eyewear.de

Italy’s historic producer of cellulose acetate, Mazzucchelli 1849 is held in high esteem across the optical industry for its beautiful richly coloured creative acetate materials, which include the sustainable Bioplastic M49. During a visit to the Mazzucchelli factory in Castiglione Olona this month, arranged by Italian independent label RES/REI (www.resrei.com) – a company that works closely with Mazzucchelli to create its own custom acetate colours – Eyestylist spoke to Elena Orsi Mazzucchelli, one of several members of the Mazzucchelli family at the helm of the day-to-day running of the business today. Trained as a lawyer, Elena works at Mazzucchelli HQ as Product Development Manager, CENTRO O Group – in the creative hub for Mazzucchelli’s research, study and design and colour development.

First, can you explain your current role at Mazzucchelli and how long you have been working there? What does it mean to you to be part of such a historic family business? I am responsible for product development, one of the beating hearts of the company. I work with a super professional and passionate team, made up of people with different interests and passions, but all united by an innate sensitivity for the product. I have been working for the company for 13 years.

Mazzucchelli1849 is a family business that next year celebrates an important anniversary: 175 years. I can say that it is a great pride to belong to the sixth generation of the family who works in the company. On the one hand I feel very lucky to be part of such an important reality, able to create beauty with values, on the other I know I have a great responsibility towards the people who work in this large family.

What are the most creative elements of your job and what do you enjoy the most about it? In my role, I have the fortune to range from the creativity necessary for the creation of a new product, the ability of laboratories to create prototypes, from the most artisanal to the most technologically advanced, up to the production of what I like to call mass-produced uniqueness.

I think creativity is a very special value with which we are lucky enough to be born, it must be cultivated and everyone has to do it according to their own inspirations.

One of the fundamental moments for the birth of a new product is the idea: that feeling that does not leave you until it is realized. It must not remain something abstract, it must be shared and if, after discussing this idea with your colleagues, with the laboratories, it still conveys the same strength to you, it means that it must be created. And seeing the first sample made from this idea is one of my favourite moments.

Changes are underway in the optical business with the switch to more sustainable materials. Can you summarise how Mazzucchelli is committed to this switch? It is now quite a long time that Mazzucchelli is committed to sustainable materials, since well before the market and the customers asked for such a change. M49 is our sustainable material on the market now since 2010. During the years, we have continued to improve the performance of M49 material and to promote its usage among the customers, even if at that time the approach to bio, natural and sustainable materials was definitely much less sensitive than what it is today. Mazzucchelli is committed to improving sustainability of the materials through continuous improvements of its iconic M49 as well as the general improvement of its processes, with the increased usage of sustainable energy and improvement of the efficiency of the production processes.

What is your view of the opportunities offered by – for example – M49 – a bio-based and biodegradable material produced by Mazzucchelli? M49 is the only material capable of fully responding to the demand of a more sustainable material. It is a natural material, coming from wood and the plasticiser used is from natural origins, while the “normal” acetate has a plasticiser with fossil origin. Besides, acetate is a recyclable material and, within some technical limitation, can be re-used in some production processes, thus improving its sustainable footprint.

What other sustainable developments can you tell us about? We think in the coming future there will be a much wider usage of natural and sustainable materials, replacing the other materials. This is a no-return decision of the market. Therefore all the efforts will be to sustain this market change by enlarging our offer of M49 together with other solutions aimed at improving the global sustainability not only of our materials and processes  but also of the entire supply chain. The usage of acetate Renew helps to improve the sustainability through the Chemical Recycling Technology developed by our supplier Eastman. In this way it is possible to recycle the cellulose acetate waste without affecting the final quality of the Renew material.

Regarding 2023, what are the highlights in terms of trends and colours for eyewear? What for you really stands out for Autumn/Winter, and do you think there is one particular trend that we will see continuing into next year? I think this Autumn/Winter will give us the desire to seek out timeless pieces, which move further and further away from what does not coincide with our commitment to sustainability, which have stories to tell and preserve. We do not have to think of a basic and hyper-classic product, but of a contextualised product that looks towards the future. A combination of material and colour, tones that manage to lighten and give a boost of energy to any pattern. I believe this is not a fleeting desire, it is, in any case, the result of the stimuli we receive from nature on the one hand and from digital technology on the other. The basic colours are sophisticated and transversal, we can think of a rich palette of browns, rusts and greys, combined with brighter tones, contaminated by digital and at the same time empathic.

What are your passions beyond eyewear and eyewear creativity? My passions affect my work and my work affects my passions. I understood that the love for this job is something that is part of my DNA, my roots. And it was a discovery that I gained over the years, because my education goes beyond this world, I trained as a lawyer. Since I joined the company, and got to know the reality of product development, I can say that it was love at first sight.

Just as I love travelling, getting to know new places and different cultures. My father is Italian and my mother is Dutch, so I experience different influences myself and I like to look for beauty in the things around me especially in those I don’t know.

I love to fill my eyes with beauty: whether it’s a painting that attracts the eye, a walk in nature with my children, a city by the sea, a good local dish or people who spend happy time together. I never get tired of looking around. And I have a thing for colour, in everything I do. Professional deformation….

www.mazzucchelli1849.it

Hailing from Northeast Scotland, eyewear designer Danielle Rattray is by all means one to watch. Seeking inspiration from her home country, a landscape bursting with culture, “colourful characters and great music”, in her words, Rattray creates strikingly bold-yet-refined frames worn by loyal patrons of her brand in London, Paris and soon…New York. Her style and energy is inspiring the youngest generations of fashion eyewear enthusiasts…. Eyestylist spoke to the Scottish designer…

Tell us a bit about yourself; how you grew up, what put you on the path you’re currently on…I come from the Northeast of Scotland, it’s an area full of colourful characters, great music, and lots of talented designers. I studied graphic design in Dundee and spent a lot of time in London, so it was an eclectic path full of inspirations.

How would you describe yourself? Committed.

What is your earliest memory of fashion? Fashion for me was always tied closely to music. Blondie, Patti Smith, Keith Richards, Vivienne Westwood. I always had a good understanding of colour and aesthetic; punk was a strong source of inspiration for me, it still is.

Have you always been a creative person? Yes, I think so. I was always drawn to colour, fabrics and aesthetics, as well as art and music.

What stands out to you most about the eyewear industry? That there is a place for everyone. You can be free to design in an understated way, or a really bold and outgoing way and people will support you and be open to your ideas. I love the pace of change and how new ideas emerge.

Does your culture and home country influence your work in any capacity? Definitely. Scotland is a small but strongly independent country. No nonsense and full of contrasts: gritty backstreets and noisy bars, but then spectacularly beautiful landscapes. My work is generally understated, but if you look closely, you see the quality and the effort that has been put in to create the relationship between the frames and the wearer.

From where do you draw the inspiration for your collections? Women, always. Again, a lot comes from the music I listen to; certain era’s and looks will inspire me. But it all comes back to women I see in the industry, or friends I meet. I travel between Scotland, London and Paris quite regularly, so I absorb different looks, and from that breeds new angles.

Tell us a little about your most recent line-up… My collections have evolved over the past few years from being heavily 60s and 70s inspired to being more unique to my personal design aesthetic. I have worked hard with my French factories, and I feel I have created a language in my collections that is strong but also understated and unique. Some of the shapes that seemed very strong in earlier seasons have developed into becoming best sellers. Obviously, colour is a signature as well as a consistently high-quality finish.

What do your designs say about their wearer? (Name one, two or a few) I think on and consider my customers a lot. I create clean and uncluttered external finishes and put more intimate details on the inside of the frames. Jean and Stevie are strong and confident frames; they’re bold, whereas Teddy and Stella are more 60s inspired; softer and pretty.

Your brand seems to be extremely bold, fashion-forward and exciting; would you be open to expanding into other areas of the industry at some point in the future? Actually, I have been designing fabrics and clothing all of my career, it’s just been in the background. I have enjoyed focusing on eyewear but, with my Scottish roots, fabric and pieces that are particularly inspired by music and punk culture will never be far away. This year, I released a collection of knitwear working with one of Scotland’s oldest knitwear manufacturers – the results were incredible. That capsule is on sale now as part of my Spring ‘23 collection.

What’s next on the horizon for Danielle Rattray? I hope lots of travel, and continued progress in finding great stores to work with. We will keep our focus on the United Kingdom and France this year, but we have strong demand coming from New York and I would love to see Danielle Rattray present there. I have some new design elements coming into the collections this year, so I am looking forward to Silmo.

For more details about the brand visit www.daniellerattray.com An interview by Victoria G. L. Brunton exclusively for Eyestylist.com

The young Venezuelan-born founder of Capote Eyewear is catching the attention of connoisseurs of eyewear. Among the attributes of the Capote collection are a totally unique craft and design philosophy, with vitality and feeling inspired by Ibiza – magically wrapped up inside every frame. Here, Eyestylist talked to Alexander for the first time.

Capote Eyewear is becoming noticed internationally for its fusion of ideas, qualitative production and its one-of-a-kind design and design philosophy. Can you explain a little bit about how it all started? I’ve always been a vintage sunglasses collector. In 2014, I decided to open my own vintage sunglasses store, a key transition to the building of my own brand that started that summer. Capote slowly started in 2015.

What does Ibiza mean to you and how is it so intrinsic to the feeling of the brand? Ibiza’s fascinating art scene attracts inspirational and fashion-conscious people. It is therefore fertile soil for pushing the boundaries of conventional design and fashion. It was thus through a natural process that Capote flourished on the island.

Has Ibiza always been your home?  Ibiza has been my home since 2008. I grew up between Caracas and the countryside. After leaving Venezuela, my interest in getting to know different cultures pushed me to travel around the globe. That’s also why Capote’s community is so diverse and multi-cultural.

Capote has a store in Ibiza and it has existed for some time. Can you tell us about it and what your plans are for it? It is a flagship store that we are currently renovating to bring in some freshness for summer 2023. The main idea behind this store is to represent as much as possible the Capote vibe. The space is divided in two: the physical store is downstairs, and our lab occupies the first floor. The lab is dedicated to the development and customization of the frames.

As a brand, what have been your challenges in getting to this point? The main challenge is to bring an innovative approach and materials to our collection. This is why we’re taking the best out of aluminum, acetate, recycled material, stainless steel, titanium, rubber, etc. We explore a variety of techniques to shape those into frames and make them unique. Another challenge is keeping the link between the brand and the custumer as direct as possible, by encouraging a micro-production that involves few intermediaries. Last but not least, we aim to develop and maintain a strong community around Capote, which is an enjoyable journey but sometimes quite tough.

You have a particular notion of eyewear design, materiality, harmony and inspiration such as nature…how would you describe the frames in your current eyewear collection for Spring/summer 2023? By incorporating nature-inspired silhouettes, colours and textures, the new collection’s roots mirror Ibiza’s natural architecture. The new frames are formed by the combination of two or more simple shapes, giving more dimensional strength to our designs. In this geometrical collection, angles meet natural shapes and lines cross curves. Harmony is found in an area of contrasts and juxtapositions, providing fertile ground for limitless creativity.

We noticed you recently did a cool looking pop-up in Paris. How did that go, and what did you learn about the Parisian consumer? We decided to develop the Parisian pop-up during Fashion Week. This super exciting new chapter is meant to get closer to our community by offering the Capote vibe within easy reach.

About the Capote Eyewear collections for 2023: This year’s collections comprise ‘Animism’ titanium and acetate ranges and ‘Area’, inspired by the sun-soaked landscapes and architectural style of the island of Ibiza. The selection of angular, textured frames includes titanium/beta titanium geometric pieces in a palette of black/brown/bronze and antique silver. The Amour style breaks up the minimal direction, but perfectly sits with it as a charming, heart-shaped design worked artfully in titanium. Quite a different story from the ubiquitous ‘commercial’ heart glasses, the result is an eccentric artisan statement of design, fun and free-spirited.

The Animism Collection – Animism derives from Latin, anima means ‘breath, spirit, life’ –  perfectly embodies the feeling of the brand with the concept which attributes inner life to both animate and inanimate elements of the world. The eyewear in the line – which includes nicely proportioned artisan styles in acetate or titanium, suited to sun or optical lenses – also presents the INCUBUS mask, constructed in steel and rubber with Carbolite lenses – and originally designed by Capote for the desert festivals and Burning Man. Find out more about Capote Eyewear on our link at https://www.eyestylist.com/2021/02/mens-glasses-capote-eyewear and at www.capoteeyewear.com

Eyewear label VAVA pushes the envelope with their avantgarde design, commitment to sustainability and distinctive collaboration work which has included designs with Patricia Mamona and with the architect, Kengo Kuma. Pedro da Silva shared some personal insights on the brand and what he is currently working on, from the opening of new offices, and a major new collaboration launch for MIDO to finalising the designs for the collection which will show at Silmo 2023.

What are you working on this week? As usual I’m working on several things at the same time. The priority is to finalize, together with our Sustainabiliy department and Graphic Designer, our first Sustainability Report regarding the year 2021.  I’ve also been working a lot this week on our new office building project. This year we have bought a 600sqm space in a post-industrial building in the city of Porto. It’s an ongoing project work we started several months; we are  transforming this old industrial space in a beautiful new office.  I’m also finalizing the designs of the SILMO 2023 collection, which we need to start prototyping now. Designing product is always a big responsibility, and this week I need to finalise the collection! I’m very happy with the new concepts planned for SILMO 2023.

What was your most important release at SILMO 2022 and what was the feedback? Our most important release at SILMO this year was model BL0034, which was nominated for a Silmo d´Or. A small unisex square sunglass shape, with round lenses, this minimalistic model stands out for its super small silhouette, nonetheless, the model is interesting because it can fit a great variety of faces due to its generous width of 145mm.

The feedback we received on this style was extremely positive. Customers liked the uniqueness and the avant-garde concept of the model. They were surprised that such a small sunglass could fit so many different faces. The best market feedback for us was the fact that this model was totally sold out by the second day of SILMO. We are bringing it back again for the MIDO fair in February, with new colorways.

VAVA is involved in projects outside eyewear…..what was the NEOPOP installation? Do particular styles or concepts of art work inspire you? We have always collaborated with Electronic Music Festivals. Back in 2014, the year of VAVA’s launch, we did an important installation at SONAR Barcelona called “RE-ENVISION”. This year we did a beautiful installation at the first SONAR Lisbon. This summer VAVA presented the SPEED – SLEEP installation at NeoPop festival. This space seeks, ultimately, to become a converging point of exchange between customers, artists and music lovers. The installation aimed to explore the dialect between Speed and Sleep. When one first examines the history of the modern age, its seems to be predominantly a history of SPEED. Avant-garde art and design has been visibly in the vanguard of this development and has produced plenty of inventions and innovations that keep the world moving. We are witnesses to the fact that the fascination for speed has been tied to its exact opposite – the desire to pull back and slow down, SLEEP, the craving for relaxation and contemplation. Modern life increasingly imposes itself as a flow of two complementary tendencies: speed and sleep. VAVA’s installation at NeoPop reflected this dualism in a unique way, moving towards a critical theme of modern society.

My keen interest for the Bauhaus movement and minimalism goes back a long way. Basic shapes played a pivotal role in Bauhaus ideas and the way they taught art.  Basic and simple shapes, like squares, circles and triangles, the most common shapes in the industrial world stimulate my vision in design. Much of the man-made world is composed of these shapes. On the other hand, I’m very much inspired by science fiction, films like Metropolis, Blade Runner and Space Odyssey, that results from an excessively one-sided belief in technological progress.  I wanted to make a label that could associate the highly conceptual language of machinery and the arts. Ultimately, the brand aims to achieve a contemporaneous basic look and at the time an aesthetic which is conceptual and timeless.

Sustainability has become an important focus in what you develop. What is VAVA doing that is over and above the ordinary in this field? Back in 2014, VAVA was already putting efforts into creating a more sustainable product – a task in which we succeeded – but since then we have put so much of our energy – as so many start-ups do – into trying to navigate through the big waves of the industry. But WE – and society as a whole – need to do much more because the changes required simply are not happening fast enough.

Today VAVA shares this sense of urgency. We must act now. In 2021, with the launch of THEOREM, we entered a new phase, an era where sustainability plays the leading role, and this will be our most important project in the coming years. We are working hard to play our part in the global transition and create a more sustainable product, all the while being a business who truly lives by its values. Protecting our planet must go beyond downsizing our own environmental footprint.

“It is vital that independent labels lead the way and implement advanced sustainability programmes. We are very proud to be launching our first ever sustainability report….”

As we head towards Xmas and then a series of optical fairs (opti/100% Optical and MIDO) what are you preparing, can you give us a sneak peak? We are pleased to announce that at MIDO 2023 we will be showcasing a very important collaboration with an American Musician. She is a pioneer of electronic music who has been pushing the boundaries of music. She is a musician, sound designer and composer, who found early success in the 1970s with her electronic music and sound effects for films and television commercials. She has been also Grammy Award nominated. We will announce more about her before MIDO!

At  the same time, and in time for opti, we will be presenting our newest models from the aluminum series – they had been completely sold out for some time. Our customers will be happy to have them back again. We will launch some ‘carryover’ models in new VAVA colours. Find out more about VAVA Eyewear at https://vavaeyewear.com. Portrait photo (top) by Amanda Sellem (at Silmo 2022), exclusively for Eyestylist.com.