November

New from the British luxury label is Zero 11, a clean, minimal aviator shape with striking proportions and fashion-forward lens, designed by Jesse Stephens. Colours are in tune with the high quality aspect of the design. A grey graduated lens matches the sheen of the metal frame itself in this example, while other colour combinations include gold with a graduated brown lens and gold with a baby blue mirrored lens. Attention to form and craft, typical of Stephens’ work, is perfectly illustrated in a design that reinterprets a classic with dramatic aesthetics and a comfortable fit. www.finestseven.com CN

Blake Kuwahara Eyewear

From a new eponymous collection by a designer who first came to optics as the creator and designer of KATA, the Blake Kuwahara line is made by hand in Japan. I first met Blake when I started as a trade journalist in the eyewear sector in 1999, and was told by senior editors he was one of the most important trendsetting designers at the time. Today he expresses his eyewear passion once again in a collection that is elegant, understated, imaginative and executed with precision and attention to detail.

Style Corbu expresses the key concept of the collection, as Kuwahara explained to Eyestylist at Silmo: “I’ve taken familiar eye shapes but encapsulate them in a nontraditional surrounding shape. By making a “frame within a frame” the juxtaposition of shapes and colours creates a design tension that is fresh and quite unexpected.” The collection launches with nine unisex optical styles and nine sunglass styles. www.blakekuwahara.com CN