Creative spirits

Cristiano Ferilli is a qualified ophthalmologist by day and a designer by night. If that alone doesn’t strike you as an accomplishment, Cristiano founded Ferilli Eyewear; the first eyewear brand to use cactus fibre – Sikalindi – in the manufacture of their Italian-made frames.

Cristiano, you speak of falling in love with the world of eyewear at the age of sixteen – forgive me if this is a backwards notion, but it’s perhaps quite an unusual attraction for a young boy to develop at such an age – how did this passion first ignite? When you’re a 16-year-old boy, I believe that you normally have a secret wish in life – it’s up to you to truly believe in that wish and make it come true. I think what pushed me back then was attending the Mido 2010 trade show and seeing so many sunglasses made with different kinds of materials. I said to myself then that when I was older, I would discover my own material to create my sunglasses.

Would you be able to tell us a little about your career path, did you always envision yourself working within the fashion industry? No, not at all. After getting an optician’s diploma at high school, I graduated with a degree in Orthoptic and Ophthalmologic Assistance, continuing that career path in clinics and hospitals. However, right after university I made my first sunglasses collection; I believed in it so passionately that Ferilli Eyewear has become my job today. While I’m busy with work as an orthoptist in a clinic, I’m also committed to creative projects as a designer for my brand.

How is it that your brand Ferilli goes beyond the concept of ‘just an accessory’? Prickly pear fibre creates a very particular pattern on every frame. I like to think that they are not just sunglasses, but they can be considered a fully-fledged design element that add a unique touch to a look, and that they are a distinctive feature that help define the wearer’s personality. Moreover, I care about the functionality of my sunglasses, not only about their design, and this applies also to the choice of lens.

Being the only brand of eyewear that uses Sikalindi is an amazing claim to be able to make, especially in an industry where the consumer is growing more aware of the impact of their purchases, and many brands are trying to find the newest, most innovative way to forge a sustainable future – tell us a bit more about producing frames with Sikalindi? In the region where I live – Puglia, in southern Italy – prickly pears are fast-growing plants, and sometimes there are so many of them that entire areas need to be cut down and thinned out. To obtain the fibre itself, we dehydrate the leaves of the plants through various physical processes – but without using chemical agents or pollutants. In this way we can extract the material we need, while respecting the environment and the natural cycle of the plant.

I assume you subscribe to the idea that the consumer needs to  ‘buy smart’ and ‘buy less’ in order for our planet and resources to survive? Why should the consumer invest in a pair of Ferilli sunglasses, in your opinion? Our products guarantee functionality from a technical point of view and they are made with a unique, sustainable material. Our aim is to be creative and innovative producing naturally beautiful sunglasses that respect the environment.

Finally, your website says that you hope to develop some new ‘sparkling ideas’ in the future – is there anything on the horizon? I can tell you that the prickly pear fibre will be incorporated into other materials, and we are meticulously studying new models that will amaze you!

To find out more about Ferilli visit www.ferillieyewear.com. Interview by Victoria G. L. Brunton exclusively for Eyestylist.com

“I started Accidental Icon because I was having trouble finding a fashion blog or magazine that offered an urban, modern, intellectual aesthetic but also spoke to women who live what I call “interesting but ordinary lives..” 

Lyn Slater – otherwise known by her Instagram and website handle Accidental Icon – is a true modern-day Renaissance Woman. A former social worker, an academic, a blogger, stylist and an influencer with a following of over seven hundred thousand on one hand whilst being a truly authentic, feminist and all-round strong woman on the other. Slater exudes all of the brilliance and indulgence of what we know to be ‘an influencer’ in this day and age, yet sheds all the negative connotations that are thought to be indistinguishable with the online segment of the fashion industry and social media. She concerns herself only with originality, intelligence, serendipity and self-empowerment, encouraging and inviting other women like her to “share the pleasures of everyday life and living” as she does.

When and how did you first develop an interest in fashion and how has that journey taken you to this point in your career? I really have not had an interest in fashion but more in the power of clothing to express identity. If you are following trends and concerned with “what’s fashionable” at any given time, you are conforming to what others think your identity should be, and I’m not about that. So, for me clothes are like an artistic tool that allows for creative expression – something that I’ve been doing all my life, even as a child. I was a social worker and academic until I started this project in 2014 – which was the first time I had anything to do with fashion as a system – from that point I just did what I usually do; wear clothing that tells stories about who I am, remember this is all about relationships, act as if you know nothing, ask many questions and be generous.

Your personal collection of eyewear and accessories is extensive as well as diverse – what particularly, if anything, draws you to choosing a piece to wear and / or to purchase? Something that is well-constructed, it is timeless, ageless and increasingly genderless. There is an element of craft involved. However, my style changes all the time depending on the context I’m living in at the moment, what is going on in my work and personal life and how I think I want to show my creativity to the world. There are times I want big and bold and others I may want something more subtle. I also choose from the inside out and what I want to say at the moment with my style. I’ve never followed norms about anything as they are usually set by those in power to control you. So, it’s really just me being me and expressing who that ‘me’ may be at any given time in my life.

Do you have any thoughts, both positive or negative, on social media and its impact on the society and the people of today? That would be a book – In simple terms it is one of those things that is both, by that I mean it has some productive and democratic uses and some negative uses and impacts. For example, if it were not for social media someone like me would never have gotten past the “gatekeepers” of fashion. It can also do things to your brain which are not productive and erodes critical thinking and analysis. Mainly people allow social media to be in charge of them and lead the way. Social media is a tool and you need to be in charge of how often you turn to it, why you are drawn to it (inspiration or distraction), how you use it to communicate and how you want to be impacted by it.

I have noticed you mentioning your evolving love affair with a slow-paced lifestyle – in regard to slow living, what are your thoughts on slow-fashion and leading a less environmentally impactful lifestyle? Do you have any thoughts on sustainability within one’s own life?  This public health crisis has really been a wake-up call regarding economic inequality, and I add ‘Black Lives Matter’ and the political mess my country is in into that list. Fashion Revolution Week and my quarantine started at the same time and I followed all the talks and workshops in London rather than those in New York – there is a higher level of thinking and creativity in my opinion outside the United States. I really deepened my commitment to slow fashion and sustainability during this time especially because the way it was presented in London was all about how creative and exciting the clothing could be. I am really liking the idea of intersectional environmentalism, which simply stated is caring for people, the planet and yourself in everything you might buy, eat, consume (including social media). It’s a good way forward for me as a way to incorporate sustainability into my everyday life.

What advice would you give to your younger self in embarking on a career within the industry of fashion? For me this is a difficult question to answer because of the great importance of context – when I was young the world was dramatically different than it is now, so, my younger self could not make use of the advice I would give today. For young people today “a career in fashion” is a moving target in that it is constantly being impacted by huge forces like we have seen with the pandemic, economic and environmental challenges, technology, etc. What that means is that it is constantly being re-designed – every aspect of it, technology proficiency is a must. I’d tell them to ask themselves why they wanted to be in fashion to begin with, if it is to express yourself creatively, I would say be a generalist – learn and practice skills that enhance creativity across many platforms, not just fashion – choose some applicable skills you want to get really good at and study and practice them.

To join the hundreds of thousands already finding inspiration in Lyn Slater’s esteemed, curated, individual and experimental lifestyle head to https://www.accidentalicon.com/about/ An interview by Victoria Brunton exclusively for Eyestylist.com.