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Liberty of London & Jono Hennessy Collaboration

22nd August 2012 Australian based Jono Hennessy has just released a lovely collection uniting the beauty of Liberty of London’s colourful fabrics, and Hennessy’s frame expertise. Louise Sceats explains: “Our joy is working with people who are craftsmen and love what they make. For us to use Liberty of London fabrics with our special interlayer lamination technique is a great honour. Each acetate block is laminated individually, and then milled into the eyewear shape.

“Behind clear acetate, the jewel like fabrics come alive in colour and detail, and they look great, especially against skin tones. In this year’s selection of Limited Edition fabrics, we are inspired by the vibrant, yet cool colours of the islands in Greece and italy. We hope that by using Liberty of London fabrics, we are bringing attention to Liberty’s historic skill and design.” www.jonohennessy.com JG

Brilliant, Bright Colours from Kirk Originals

20th August 2012 Colour has always been the hallmark of the Kirk Originals collections. Jason and Karen Kirk  (above) share with Eyestylist.com their fascination with colour.

“Colour expresses emotion, and coloured eyewear makes a suggestion about the personality behind the eyewear. It fascinated us that the same colour can suggest different things according to its context or the timing of its use. The Beam Collection is a riot of bold hues and has been very well received. Amethyst, coral, aquamarine are all unusual colours in optics, but the public has embraced them. We suspect that these bright, joyful colours are a welcome antidote to the atmosphere of economic gloom.

“Our new autumn launch, Twenty, is a collection that celebrates our first twenty years of optical design.  It incorporates traits of our work from different collections through the years, one of which is our use of colour, which will be bold, saturated, but sophisticated and suggesting warmth and confidence. It is amazing how colours can feel right one season, and then not quite so right the following year. We work very much on personal feeling.” www.kirkoriginals.com JG

Jean-Francois Rey, Marseilles, France

17th August 2012 Colour is a key component of the eyewear created by Marseille based spectacles company J.F. Rey, the label headed by the eponymous designer. We asked Jean-Francois and his wife, Joëlle about their love of bright colours and contrasts in spectacle design. (Above: model JF 2431).

Which bright colours are traditionally successful in your collections? While black, silver, grey, brown and tortoiseshell are still the great classics; red, cobalt blue, cream, aniseed and various shades of purple are the most popular bright colours. Over and above the choice of colours themselves, our pieces are successful for their colour combinations, and particularly our use of dual colours on the inside and outside of the frame.

A recent example or our colour work is our Pixel concept, inspired by graphic arts. The frames have subtle dual colour schemes, with the colours shading off or graduating into each other. With a choice of 4 to 10 colours per model, a selection of stylish, sophisticated colours and some highly successful matt/gloss effects, we have gone against the traditional codes. Without compromising on creativity or innovation, we are constantly experimenting on new harmonies and new contrasts. The colours we choose are a driving force in our product development.

Why do you encourage bright, happy and vibrant colours? Our eyewear expresses its colour differences loud and clear. Colour is one of the key features of the brand, which uses a surprising, unusual colour palette to support J.F.Rey’s creative, upmarket positioning. The colour combinations we develop are the result of sophisticated research: the colours are chosen with great care and the lacquering, which is all done by hand, is of an outstanding quality.

Acetate plays a key role, with its soft, silky feel and explosive colour contrasts. Joëlle guides the choice of colour in our collections. While our customers like to say that J.F.Rey is behind the designs, Jea-Francois’s wife is really the colourist. Her character, love of good taste and sensitivity to the harmony between materials and shades enhances our collections.  (more…)

Fun and Function – Infant/Toddler Eyewear

15th August 2012 Zoobug – the children’s eyewear specialist – has expanded its child-friendly frame selection with new shapes and delightful colours, designed to please both youngsters and their parents. Kids will love the comfort of glasses that are gentle on their delicate skin, and the colours: blue/orange, fuchsia/white, red/white and pink/fuchsia. Parents will appreciate the soft, adjustable rubber material, which ensures a snug and comfortable fit. Plus there is a new detachable headband.

“Infants and toddlers need to get used to wearing their first frames with as little anxiety as possible,” says Dr. Julie Diem Le, Zoobug Director. This charming collection of Minis ensures that children will adapt easily to wearing glasses. www.zoobug.com JG

Vidal Erkohen, RVS by V. on colour

13th August 2012 Glistening gold, shocking pink, or delicate pattern inspired by Turkish tiles? RVS by V. from Turkey works with punchy colours and trendsetting tonal combinations as well as introducing innovative concepts for patterned frames. As part of our celebration on colour this month, Eyestylist.com asked RVS by V.’s Vidal Erkohen to explain his love of colour in eyewear. (Above: Custom gold and blue mirroring with @muratoptik for RVS Eyewear models “Morro” and “Naomi”).

Take me back to when you first started producing your own RVS by V. designs….what were your groundbreaking colours and colour combos then? At first my goal was to combine and use colours that were not being used at the time especially since bright colours were not yet back in fashion as they are today. Two of the most unusual colours I used and combined at the time were bright orange and silver which was very successful among our followers.

How has your work in colour developed and what do you feel is your signature style today? I think the fact we are able to combine any colours that our clients request is a big difference compared to other eyewear brands out there. I love how colours work together and even though most people shy away from wearing bright ones, let alone combining them with each other, we love to present something unusual with each model we release. We have now started to use patterned acetates and are combining them with plain colours as well as prints like those used for our “Iznik” collaboration. I am especially fond of our combination of pale pink and sky blue acetate which was named by one of our good clients (Coyote Degroot of Labrabbit Optics) as the “Miami Vice” combination. It’s one of my favorites; even though the colour combo may sound feminine, it balances well and looks as good on a man is it does on a woman.

Comment on your use of opaque and how that effects the colours you use? Ever since we released our brand, our motto has been to make the eyewear with the best matt finish out there and although many have persuaded us to release a shiny collection I am strongly against it. Our brand is, and always will be made with a matt finish. I believe it is our Matt finish that balances out our vibrant colours and represents the look of a pair of RVS frames. Also, the feel of our frames when worn is another aspect that is very important for me and I believe the matt finish we use makes wearing and touching our frames all the more enjoyable.

You have just started to use more patterned colour – the new model Celine above is a good example – please comment; it is quite a different look to your use of colour blocking? Yes, the patterned acetate is a first for us and a sign of what is to come in the future. The colours such as Camoflauge and Deep Purple we have used are colours that I believe women may not be used to at first but will open a new perspective on the classic larger sized ladies’ glasses out there.  The use of colour and all their combinations offers even the most classic design dozens of different faces. This is one of our main goals, keeping things classic without repeating what has been done in the past. (more…)