Design + Inspiration

Menswear highlight: eyewear from salvaged wood – Le Wood GIVEAWAY launched by Lucentement

Avantgarde designers Rigards and creative fashion platform Lucentement have joined forces in a celebration of the platform’s 100,000 followers on Instagram: with a gift of a pair of Le Wood sunglasses.

One of Rigards’ most exciting recent works, created in collaboration with Uma Wang, the Limited Edition frame is noteworthy not just for its customized elements (vintage grey rims and light mirrored lens), but also for the extraordinary crafting of the frame: the wood is coated in gossamer-thin bamboo paper, and hand-painted using a traditional application of lacquer, with careful drying, sanding, and smoothing between each layer, until the final matte top layer is applied to produce lacquer with less shine, delivering a unique rendition of the time-honored art form. The frame is created in salvaged wood – paired simply and harmoniously with ultralight aluminum-magnesium — giving the natural material a second life in a frame that represents a piece of wearable ‘eyewear’ art.

Named “Le Wood”, this iconic collaborative style between Rigards and Uma Wang was designed to tie in with a reflection on dual themes: the powerful mountain scapes of the Andes, and the timeless elegance of Bauhaus ingenuity. Embracing a deceptively unfussy shape, the frame juxtaposes two nature-derived materials of opposite properties and two different worlds of traditions, skills, and associations, culminating in a singularly potent aesthetic.

For a chance to win this beautiful and iconic frame by RIGARDS x Uma Wang, we invite you to visit the Instagram page @lucentement + website: www.lucentement.com

About Lucentement – Lucentement was founded in 2013 by brothers Oscar and Ralph. The brothers started Lucentement to help Avant-Garde designers get more exposure via social media channels. Lucentement strives to become the most trusted and disruptive storytelling online platform within the avant-garde Niche. With the necessity to protect and at the same time credit this niche for its incredible influence on the fashion industry, Lucentement vision is to express avant-garde fashion and designers online in the most righteous way possible.

About Rigards – Rigards leads the way in avant-garde frame design, producing designs in unusual natural materials and exquisite metal combinations and influenced by incredible textures and patterns of the natural world. Founder Ti Kwa has established a new aesthetic style for handcrafted eyewear which is sought after by global connoisseurs of design and leaders in the field of avant-garde fashion and eyewear worldwide.

One to watch: a sophisticated style at Capote, inspired by the power and magic of  Ibiza, finely tuned with specialist manufacture

One of the highlighted brands in our TREND bulletin on Menswear directions this month, Capote offers mystery, attitude and distinctive, handcrafted design traits – inspired by its Balearic roots and the wild and diverse character of the island of Ibiza. Designed by Venezuelan born Alex Capote, the spirit of the collection today derives from ‘the karma life philosophy’, a notion of simplicity and minimalist attitude, authenticity of design and artisanal creativity.  The frames have evolved since the brand was first conceived in  2013, introducing fine materials such as titanium, beta titanium, Mazzucchelli acetate and aluminium, Italian or Japanese production and a more refined and curated style in the construction. Above: Capote / Cymatics frame 639Hz

Poised for the new season, the current frame shapes are tailored and not oversized – going against the grain of more commercial trends and relying instead on geometric, layered features and sophisticated tones of black, silver or gold, matt finishes and lens colours ranging from mirrored red to black smoke, understated yet edgy in black on black.

Early work by Alex Capote was created with the desert festivals such as Burning Man in mind. Capote made a design for the desert – the Incubus, with attributes to cope with the extreme conditions of the dust, an adjustable black rubber strap and avantgarde design in vintage-effect rubber and silver steel. Capote Eyewear has its own store in Ibiza at Carrer de Manuel Sora, 17, 07800 Eivissa. Find out more at www.capoteyewear.com

To read our TREND bulletin and forecast for the finest Men’s Eyewear this year, click on the link here: www.eyestylist.com/eyestylist-trend-bulletin-issue-2/

This month, discover everything you need to know about what’s hot for men in eyewear – with Eyestylist

Gentlemanly. Sophisticated. With a technical approach. This year, independent designers work with notions of the timeless classics to create contemporary frames for men with versatility and outstanding attention to design details. The line up of shapes, materials, and material combinations, as well as new, precise thoughts on colour and texture, mean that the selection of styles is wide and influences multifarious –  from past decades – 1980s, 90s and even 00s, and gently mixed with architectural ideas and a desire to create frames for a discerning design oriented male. Above: Ørgreen Optics model Equator in the capsule collection Imaginary Lines. Photography by Petra Kleis

Titanium remains a key material in this playground for tech innovation, detail and precision. Super light frames such as Equator by Ørgreen Optics take the minimal approach to the material and stands out not only for the choice of six colorations, but the clever balance of 100% pure titanium and beta-titanium which lends the weightless feel and the sleek contrasting lines and contours of the construction itself. Colours here range from the subdued – antique dark red and antique blue, with “antique” being the all important detail in giving the colours a refined and unique finish, as well as including a matt gun punctuated with bright matt orange temples, a more showy solution for those who want a bold uplifting style. View the Equator on the Ørgreen Optics website at https://orgreenoptics.com/product/equator-1125/

During February, Eyestylist will highlight 10 frames for men which illustrate the key looks in the fine independent eyewear collections for Spring/Summer 2021. The next edition of the Eyestylist Trend bulletin launches this week on Issuu and extends our content about men’s glasses with a selection of fine independent glasses and sunglasses in the category.