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Wild West Inspiration for Jono Hennessy

4th May 2012 “I’ve had a whole Western thing going on in my head for some time, and I love the combination of leather and metal. I found a vintage Western belt buckle in the market, and we commissioned two jewellery makers to actually carve the pattern in reverse for Rancho Deluxe, so that we could stamp the frame shape out. I designed the pattern specifically for the shape of this frame – it’s not just stamped out of a sheet. My favourite colour is the copper, like the rivets on old jeans, combined with a ‘Bentley-dashboard’ briar wood acetate temple – the light green sun lenses compliment this combination beautifully.

“We have started a new direction in sunglasses from last year, getting away from the heavy acetates. We are probably a little bit early at this stage, however, I am sure we will see more textured metal coming up at Silmo (the Paris optical fair).” www.jonohennessy.com JG

Sven Götti Talks About His Favourite Design

1st May 2012 During this month’s series, ‘Trends Under The Sun’, we’ll be chatting with designers about their favourite sunglasses. The series opens with Sven Götti of Götti Switzerland.

“My favourite sunglass frame in this collection is Pepe 360° in black pearl. The inspiration was the Cary Grant look from the old Alfred Hitchcock movies. The sunglasses were small and cool at that time. I want to give the wearer the chance to stay out of the crowd among all the big sunglasses that we see at the moment. This frame is in Titanium, and our sunglasses are made with the same manufacturer as the optical frames, so the quality is insured.

“We do only three colours – silver,gold and black, in order to give the frame an authentic look. Of course, we added our foldable Spin & Stow temples, for a new modern feature.”

Götti Switzerland has just received the prestigious iF Product Design Award 2012, for their innovative concepts in sunglass design. www.gotti.ch JG

Selima Salaun, Selima Optique

28th April 2012 The Selima Optique team have sent us some great shots of the launch of their vintage pop-up shop, including this one above of Selima Salaun and Simon Galaviz wearing pieces from the ‘London Collection’ which we reported on earlier in the month! Here are a few more below. We are sad we couldn’t be there! Selima is an avid fan of eyewear of all types….as a designer she understands that many of today’s top eyewear brands are mined from the past, and she continues to build a rich archive of options featuring the best in high-design and high-quality.
She has a devoted following of vintage clients who continue collecting the rarest of pieces, but she also likes to give those who are not in-the-know a chance to find a truly original, one-of-a-kind pair of frames.

Alongside her handmade creations, each Selima Optique shop boasts a curated selection from some of the most trusted names in the optical arena including Alain Mikli, Cazal, Christian Dior, Gucci, Mykita and Persol. Visit when next in New York (or Paris), we will be!

Photography provided exclusively by Selima Optique.

Selima Optique / Bond 07 Showroom, 7 Bond Street, NYC, NY 10012 www.selimaoptique.com CN

Three glamorous cat’s eyes

27th April 2012 While there are masses of cat’s eyes, classic and modified, I decided to pick out some special ones for our vintage coverage…but I have to emphasise there really are so many good ones this was not an easy exercise. Here are three that I’ve seen in the last days that have a special something in terms of the styling…. but I have loads more to recommend in our Sunglasses Special next month…

The sunglasses above are a vintage pair, part of a collection by Lunettes Kollektion’s designer Uta Geyer, who has an online vintage store at www.lunettes-shop.de. This is a very strong shape by the much-loved designer Christian Roth, a friend of ours who has made eyewear history with a number of brilliant one-off creations (I didn’t know these were by Christian Roth when I selected them, so it was a pleasant surprise). I’m very keen on the squared off sides of this interpretation, and the lens shape which is cheeky and elegant at the same time.

From this year’s collections, this design from Vanni, an Italian brand produced by Nico Design, has charisma. It is very feminine, cute in its patterning and the two-tone front is a very important trend this year that looks really splendid here. I haven’t tried this on but I should expect it to be an easy-to-wear catseye, sweet and classic.

Also from Italy, by the label Italia Independent, is this hybrid between a catseye and a butterfly design, produced in metal for a completely different effect. The model is called I-I 033M; it is quite sleek and a very nice choice for smaller faces. This colour is punchy, as is the statement gold version. From what I hear this brand is now quite widely available in London; try Bromptons (www.kensingtonopticians.co.uk) 2020 Optical Store (www.20-20.co.uk), or Schullers (www.schulleropticians.com) www.italiaindependent.com CN