Design + Inspiration

In the third and final recommendation in our series on creativity on Instagram this week, meet Chiara Veronese @centro_ottico_bastia, a young Italian optician and designer with an eye for style and curated imagery.

Chiara Veronese’s IG profile @centro_ottico_bastia is colourful, personal and full of fun and glamour. With a background in art and graphic design, Veronese took over her father’s optical store in 2016, and has a special passion for independent creative design. “After graduating from the University of the Arts London in 2011 I studied to be an optician in Italy,” she told Eyestylist. ” Today I’m the owner, the manager, the creative, the cleaner: I’m a one-woman band!”

With posts that visualise the beautiful chic style of the shop, as well as Chiara’s personal edit of eyewear, design, fashion and accessories, a few very elegant selfies are also highlighted as part of the styling of this page, demonstrating the unique qualities of the frames in store.

“My IG inspiration is always connected with independent brands and creative individuals,” she says. “I follow many accounts on travel, design and ceramics, and I have a soft spot for Japanese photography and architecture. I’m very attracted to one-off projects, collaborations and hybrid design (useful vs beautiful).”

Asked how she’s faired in lockdown, she says she has tried to see it as a chance to explore creativity within the limits of her home. “For IG I’ve been using only what is immediately available and mundane, everyday objects and settings. I also had the opportunity to experiment with my first, rudimentary posts via IGTV.”  Via Veneto 54, Loc. Bastia, 35030 Rovolon PD, Italy. Find out more about Centro Ottico Bastia at the new website: www.centrootticobastia.it

With the expected long-term need for personal face protection in our daily lives against Covid-19 post lockdown, designer Joe Doucet has created a face shield with integrated sunglass lenses and arms – the first of its kind. The studio is currently seeking a brand or eyewear manufacturing partner to produce the unique futuristic design in a collaborative project.

Studies have shown that face shields or visors are much more effective than surgical style face masks, but in their current basic format they are uncomfortable and awkward. Doucet’s design aims to make wearing face protection “more practical and less alien and intrusive on the wearer”, integrating a fashion-forward ‘futuristic’ look more akin to trends in contemporary apparel and fashion in general. The design proposed with polycarbonate shield integrates an anti-fog coating to ensure clear vision when in use.

The design studio hopes that by improving the basic face shield design to a level that creates desirability in the product as an easy-to-wear fashion accessory aligned with sunwear, greater uptake for personal protection can be further encouraged in the weeks and months once lockdown is eased.

Based in New York, Joe Doucet is an award-winning designer, entrepreneur and inventor. After graduating from the Art Center College of Design, Doucet began exporting his vision into product, furniture, environment, and technology to find solutions for daily and societal challenges through design. His work deftly hybridizes function and visual appeal while conveying layers of meaning and message. Doucet believes that design and, more importantly, a designer’s thought process can play a larger role in innovation and problem solving, as well as aesthetics. He currently holds numerous patents for his designs and inventions. Find our more about his work at www.joedoucet.com Photography supplied by kind permission of Joe Doucet. – CN

Haute couture eyewear with an avant-garde design

Putting a maximalist style at the heart of her work, eyewear designer Anna-Karin Karlsson has created a world of eyewear apart from the everyday. Decoration such as carved flowers, exotic wildlife and fantastical bugs and ‘claws’ have featured as embellishments for fronts, temples and bridges in works that highlight extravagant materials (24k gold, white gold and titanium) and immaculate execution.

This season, the collection unfolds with new dramatic sun entries, ‘Shady Luv’ and ‘Too Handsome’ defined by sophisticated forms with minute engraving work and jewellery settings. In 100% Japanese titanium, Shady Luv is hand-set with Swarovski crystals. Each colorway is available in just 100 limited edition pieces. The style is a reminder of the oversized mask shapes of the 00s with single visor lens. Above: Shady Luv, pictured in white gold with Zeiss mirrored lens.