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Concept store: Indice Vision, Italy

With a taste for modern design, well-planned contemporary fittings and new ideas, 27-year-old Nicolo Plebani says the new Indice store is hard to explain without mentioning every single detail that has gone into the final store design concept. “To my colleague Giovanni and I, Indice represents our passion for design, research and innovation, expressed through the world of optics”. The shop is, needless to say, far removed from the traditional optician’s store, and intentionally so.

Indice: open spaces with designer lighting

Approximately 200m squared and split on two floors, this exemplary eyewear destination is  located next to the imposing Cathedral of Brescia, a city located in the Northern Italian region of Lombardy. The setting is eye-catching and original with focus on a personal appreciation of design and creativity – a stunning environment for an eyewear experience and the ideal showcase for talented independent designers.

Silver leaf, iron and glass tables, and refined display cases and shelves, which rest on mirror carpets are some of the ad hoc elements in the modern space created for shoppers who appreciate fine design. Fittings also include Eames Vitra chairs, Afteroom stools and a purple armchair by Albini Cassina and the space is lit with Flos spotlights and lamps, further embellished with Poseidon Cattellan Italia chandeliers.

Indice: industrial elegance and focus on design details

For eyewear choices, the store is equally avant-garde. The first collections available instore include Kuboraum, Cazal, SUPER (a special edition was launched by the store in June), and other equally individual lines, designed to give shoppers a different choice of products that combine extraordinary quality with good looks and a story  far beyond the ordinary. Indice Vision is a new concept store by Nicolo Plebani and Giovanni Comotti – Address: Via Giulio Bevilacqua 7, Brescia – www.indice.visionCN

Round Mask: TAVAT Eyewear

TAVAT’s Round Mask is a 2018 must-have, a special take on their popular SoupCan design and, essentially, two designs in one. First featured on EYESTYLIST in January this year, the colours have since been expanded. Exciting effects in the material combination highlights the frame’s forward-focused aesthetic achieved by inserting an acetate mask into the body of a SoupCan style, the round model 2.0. The front is paired with flexible acetate sides pieces and the lenses are produced in top-notch melanin, a material that is UV protective and lightweight with excellent optical clarity. TAVAT Eyewear is designed in California and produced in Italy, and all frames have unique artisan features produced in advanced materials with superior functionality and comfort. Find out more at www.tavat-eyewear.com CN

Frame Chain at The Eye Establishment

Two of London’s youngest success stories in optics came together with the Celine Sunglasses team for a summer party in London’s Kensington in June. The Eye Est. opened in July 2017, and is one of London’s most elegant new optical and sunglass boutiques, located in a neighbourhood that supports their forward-thinking selection of fashionable eyewear and bold modern statement styling. Above, left to right: Fahmida Kamal Rob of The Eye Est., with Vanessa and Annie of Frame Chain.

At The Eye Est., party evening

The Eye Est. store currently stocks a range of design labels which include CELINE, Komono, Dita, and EYEVAN7285. It has also become known for its passion for coffee, and offers a unique espresso bar serving an independent London brew by Drury Coffee.

The Eye Est.: guests tried the new chain styles at Frame Chain

Frame Chain, London’s fast-expanding accessories label, has become known for its glamorous eyewear chains, available in fashion retailers such as Liberty’s in the UK and at leading optical retailers worldwide. The brand is the creation of entrepreneurs Vanessa Harrington and Ann-Margret Kearney, who have grown the fashionable appeal of the eyewear chain beyond all expectation in a short space of time.

Close-up: chains by Frame Chain at The Eye Est.

Frame Chain’s latest line includes gold designs in yellow, white and rose versions as well as new finishes such as rhodium and enamel and decorative Swarovski and pearls. Inspired by jewellery, the chains can be worn with any glasses, or as a piece of jewellery on their own thanks to the changeable silicone ends. For more details visit www.eye-est.com and www.framechain.co.uk CN

Delirious Eyewear on Stella Jean catwalk

One of Milan’s most sought after underground labels, Delirious Eyewear, merges vintage-inspired shapes, classic Italian production techniques and, brilliantly, a touch of the extrovert, in its 2018 sun and specs collections, designed by founder Marco Lanero.

The label has some intriguing connections in the music and fashion worlds. They include a regular link up on the Italian catwalks with Haitian-Italian fashion designer Stella Jean, who like Lanero, is known for an appreciation of precise craftsmanship and artisanal expertise. Above: Designer Stella Jean wears Delirious frame on the catwalk, Fall/Winter 2018 collection preview.

‘Loose Optical’ by Delirious Eyewear – a dramatic shape in beta-titanium

Delirious handcrafts glasses with “the best materials on the market”, explains Lanero who chooses natural buffalo horn, Mazzucchelli acetate – the highest quality available – Japanese titanium and protective Zeiss sun lenses, and talks at length about precise studies he has made into the reliability and durability of the luxury materials selected.

Titania by Delirious Eyewear

Emblematic of the styling and confidence of the collection is model Titania, produced in acetate and Japanese beta titanium with a shape that appears to do the near impossible – combining a round eye shape with the suggestion of a cat’s eye. All Delirious frames are free from branding, and the founder is defiant in his view on this: “You will never find our name on our products.” The idea is to focus on the excellence of the design and the quality, with impeccable finishing and a small stamp of approval via an engraving, “handcrafted in Italy.”

Titania by Delirious Eyewear – like a sculpture in acetate

Delirious Eyewear was created in 2012, and first showed its titanium sunglasses on Stella Jean’s runway at the Fall/Winter 2017 show. The brand is now available in selected optical boutiques and a few prestigious fashion stores worldwide. A showroom is located in Milan at Alzaia Naviglio Pavese, 52. For more information, and further details visit www.deliriouseyewear.com CN

Moku-Moku by Padma Image

Continuing on a path that is fresh and ingenious, Padma Image from Japan has put out new styles for summer, including the quirky Moku Moku. Young designer Meiji Hasui has a love for asymmetrical concepts, and when these appear, they are always delicate with an intriguing elegance that is very flattering on the face. Model Moku Moku is now available in a range of soft acetate colorations with nice subtleties; tones include the black and white mottled effect and a graduated purple or bright blue.

All the frames are being produced in Makoto in Sabae, Japan, known as one of the most sought after production sites in the country for the highest quality crafting and finishing. The PADMA IMAGE brand is now 6 years old and well known in Japan in the most exclusive boutiques. The online store is now open at https://padmaimage.stores.jp/ – more details at http://padmaimage.com CN