Eyestylist

Multitalented designer Veronika Wildgruber began her career in eyewear alongside the celebrated Alain Mikli in Paris. After that, the young creative went on to win a Silmo D’Or with no less than her first ever frame design. Twelve years later, with commissions by brands including Hermès under her belt, Eyestylist catches up with the now established and highly regarded director and founder of her namesake eyewear label. 

 Tell us about your early life, and the journey you have taken in order to get to where you are today? I studied industrial design in Bolzano, Northern Italy. I think when I applied, my first intention was to be a graphic designer. I had liked my classes in industrial design and communication design and actually right up to the first half of the year, I realized that I really wanted to do product design and create objects. So, I graduated in industrial design and my plan was to become a furniture designer or a household object / interior designer. Then, I started to work in Paris doing an internship with a designer who was working with fashion as well as in product design.

I intended to stay in Paris for four months, and in the end I stayed for years. After the internship I got into working a freelance job which rolled into another freelance job and so forth. Eventually, I began working for an Italian designer who shared his space with an eyewear maker Jacques Durand who was working alongside Mikli at the time. He was a big name in the city – everybody was talking about Mikli. To be honest, I didn’t really know Lee’s glasses because I was not involved with and didn’t have any contact within the industry. I never truly thought about working with him. It was all very new for me. In the moment it was more like an arrangement, sort of like “let’s share the space and maybe my assistant can give you some assistant work as well”. Then, from my perspective, it was solely about a paid job – you know, of course a rarity in the design area. So I said, yes. I think he also believed it was interesting to have somebody who was a designer, but didn’t know anything about his area – something that would make it interesting, and someone he would actually quite like to do some projects with.

He asked me to help on some collections and to design with my own eye. I have to say it wasn’t something I was always yearning to do, but I thought I’d like a bit of a challenge. It wasn’t at all a window into my future career at first, but it was more like, why not try it?

I crafted my first design with cardboard because I didn’t really know how to approach it. So, then we created the prototype frame with a model maker in acetate and presented it at Silmo in 2010 – and it won a Silmo D’Or! It felt like my first real moment after joining the eyewear world. It was a big surprise.

At the time I didn’t have a brand or a name in the industry, so the frame was just a number, without even a title. I think that kind of led me to believe I had a talent for design in this area, and pushed me to start this journey. I thought, if I am going to do it, I’ll do it with my own name – not as a collaboration or in a position working for someone else – but to try it for myself. From then on it was a strange and slow start: four pairs of glasses and two years later another four pairs of glasses and so on. It was never really a launch, you know, or a collection. That’s why I consider my growth into this world really organic; I wasn’t jumping in the deep end, I wanted to keep up my work in furniture design too – I would’ve felt as though I was cheating on my original dream if I had neglected it.

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Eyestylist Exclusive: The Austrian label has a series of developments to announce, with  innovation at the heart of every frame

Rolf Spectacles, one of the pioneering small companies in the eyewear business, which remains true to its focus on quality and innovation in producing natural products with respect for the natural environment, has launched the first texture for its 3D printed plant-based frames. “This is the first release in the 3D printed substance mount collection made from castor beans,” Bernhard Wolf told Eyestylist. “There are more to come.” This first texture announced in March (https://www.eyestylist.com/2022/03/rolf-spectacles-adds-texture-to-plant-based-frames/) has a detailed pattern that reproduces the textures of natural structures like rock, dry earth. “If you look closely the pattern fades out towards the temple tip, this has taken a lot of tests and trials to get right, all done in our workshops in Austria. We are now working on new texture effects, always inspired from nature around us – the next one will appear in the regular substance line.”

In true Rolf style, away from the eco hype, the team has continued quietly through the last months in developing the possibilities of the 3D printed plant-based eyewear, while also turning attention to the development of 3D printed titanium designs. “We are always building our skills to create everything here in one place….we are completely self-reliant, everything is done in-house and finishes by hand with a process that strives for quality, continuity in innovation and always with transparency and  a genuine respect for nature and the environment. Above:  Brothers Bernhard and Roland Wolf, Rolf Spectacles

Meanwhile, other new projects have been evolving successfully. With several new dads among the team at Rolf, a kid’s collection was inevitable. “The great thing about the plant-based 3d material is its comfort and durability, it’s ideal for youngsters,” Bernhard told Eyestylist. “We are going to launch five new shapes for kids in four colours. We have also studied the possibilities of a really extremely comfortable Asian fit, this material offers the right versatility, strength and style.”

In the  wood collection too, time and effort has been spent in researching bestsellers, whether shapes or particular colours of natural wood to further develop the line to accommodate what the customer really wants. “We have been able to put a lot of work into creating combinations of favourite wood colours, and the results are really something – you can play with two types of wood on the front and the lining for very different effects in the mix of colours and grains.” Rolf Spectacles will exhibit at the trade fairs MIDO and Opti. To find out more about their natural collections, visit www.rolf-spectacles.com By Clodagh Norton – All rights reserved.