Eyestylist

| Eyestylist 7th January 2021

Guggenheim, Bilbao

Looking forward…live art in 2021

As museums struggle through difficulties of closures and a lack of tourists, the highly acclaimed Guggenheim in Bilbao reminded us of how much we have missed and are missing visiting galleries and museums. Like many other museums around the world, the closure of the Guggenheim for almost three months, and the subsequent mobility restrictions, reduced the number of visitors to the Museum (to 315.908 people)  despite massive support of their digital initiatives.

In 2020, as in other arts organisations across the world, the digital presence of the Museum increased considerably in order to alleviate to some extent the impossibility of enjoying live art, and the results they say were very satisfactory. During the Spring quarantine when the Museum was required to close to the public, the digital initiative #GuggenheimBilbaoLive was launched, through which a total of 55 videos were made about the exhibitions and lesser-known aspects of the Museum activity, along with storytellers and artist workshops for children. In total, these videos achieved 2.3 million views on the Museum’s social media and generated a total of 90,000 very positive user interactions! Above: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Vasily Kandinsky – Several Circles (Einige Kreise) January-February 1926

Meanwhile, the Museum has maintained the highest quality in its Art Program and today the doors are open for Lee Krasner: Living Color (to 10th January 2021) and the retrospective dedicated to Kandinsky – running until 23rd May 2021. Drawn primarily from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, this is a comprehensive exhibition which traces along four geographic sections the aesthetic evolution of one of the foremost artistic innovators of the early 20th century.

If you’d like to find out more or review what’s happening online at the Guggenheim Bilbao in the next months, visit their website at www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus and lend your support! Follow the Guggenheim on Instagram @museoguggenheim. We look forward to bringing you more updates in our Arts & Travel column just as soon as the pandemic is under control.

Image above (full details): Vasily Kandinsky – Several Circles (Einige Kreise) January-February 1926 Oil on canvas – 55 1/4 x 55 3/8 inches (140.3 x 140.7 cm) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, By gift © [current year] Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris Painting Bauhaus

| Eyestylist 5th January 2021

Retro refined at LINDBERG, Denmark

Function and fashion in new strip titanium styles

Among new styles for 2021, the Danish label’s strip titanium collection explores the finest qualities of a retro infused style – with a sleek expression and technically advanced, seamless construction. Models 7423 and 7424 are half-rimmed frames that carry a refined look. The distinct upper bars offer a unique character with an almost floating aesthetic when worn on the face. Above: LINDBERG strip titanium 7423 in a shiny gold finish

LINDBERG strip titanium 7423 – a modified square eye shape

One of LINDBERG’s most sought after frame concepts, the individual titanium elements of these strip titanium styles are laser cut from thin plates of premium quality titanium and formed to create a balance of lightness and impressive stability to bring exceptional standards of comfort. With qualities such as durability, corrosion resistance as well as being hypoallergenic – titanium has become one of eyewear’s most highly regarded materials, and these ultralight strip titanium styles are conceived quite precisely to blend all these different benefits in one.

LINDBERG strip titanium 7424 – based on the classic cat’s eye

LINDBERG’s expertise in producing quality titanium eyewear stems from a “desire for constant innovation”. The company has won multiple awards and holds a series of design patents for its lightweight screwless eyewear consistently setting new standards for style, comfort and toughness in their extensive choice of customisable designs. Their first titanium frame concept – Air Titanium, was first launched in 1985. Made from strong, durable titanium wire, it continues to be among their most successful and highly prized minimalist designs. www.LINDBERG.com

 

| Eyestylist 4th January 2021

Lunettes Alf: artisan design style a20.01

a20.01 – alf’s artisan design inspired by American safety glasses

Lunettes Alf’s style a20.01 is a distinguished design in its acetate collection, a frame for men and women with a thick rimmed panto shape. The glasses which were inspired by the design of protective safety glasses of the 1960s has a striking bridge detail and visible pins on the frame front, a classic feature of the French artisan label.

a20.01 Lunettes Alf – made in Normandy, France

Lunettes Alf presents spectacles which are designed in Paris and produced exclusively in Normandy, in one of the country’s most prestigious factories for handmade eyewear. The quality of the featured materials is reflected in the choice of Japanese acetate and photochromic mineral sun lenses. Precise in their desire to create timeless designs, alf is inspired by the most beautiful frame designs of past eras, with a sober and clean style – with inspiration dating back to the designs of the 20s and times when spectacles first became an accessory of style and design excellence. a20.01 is available in 6 colours including crystal (above), and elegant variations of dark and light tortoiseshell. Find out more about the brand at www.lunettes-alf.com

| Eyestylist 1st January 2021

Eyestylist: A decade of fine eyewear & accessories

A note to you, to mark our 10th anniversary

Eyestylist is celebrating 10 years today! To mark our first decade, we wish to direct our thanks to you our friends and readers who support and follow what we do daily on the site and on social media. We are committed to a constant, dedicated study of the design and innovation in the eyewear and accessories business and we are extremely delighted to have a fantastic audience of professionals, opticians and people who love  and value the design and artistic focus of this creative world of fashion – and the extraordinary people who work within it. Above: Churada by Fritz Frames, Australia, first published on Eyestylist in November 2011 following a first interview with the designer Friedrich Schwarz at Silmo, Paris: https://www.eyestylist.com/2011/11/wood-to-wear/ – ten years on, this Australian independent brand continues to expand its timber frame collection.

A love for design details: Mido optical fair February 2019 – taking a closer look at the inside of  Nina Mûr wooden glasses

In 2011, this level of detail and news in a feed of online content on unique eyewear and accessory independent labels was not available and through the years we have built and are building what we believe to be a remarkable archive dedicated to the leaders and innovators in avantgarde, handmade, luxury and fine glasses, sunglasses and accessories.  Through commitment,  hard work and detailed research, it has been an exciting path of travel, meetings, and factory visits, international fashion weeks and trade fairs..and I am personally grateful for the friends and kind supporters I have encountered a long the way, and the recognition and respect we have built through this time as a trusted resource with a solid global following.

Avantgarde design: Horn spectacles by Rigards, from their 2012 collection – featured on Eyestylist in December 2012 https://www.eyestylist.com/2012/12/trend-watch-grainy-effects-textures-and-wood-look/

We hope you will take a chance to visit the new Eyestylist website and mobile site (www.eyestylist.com) we launched in December as a prelude to our anniversary and we look forward to bringing you more high quality content for years to come. Remember you can look back at our archive of content since 2011, and read about the evolution of some of the brands that are leading this field today!

Iconic French design: Lafont’s optical model Gaufrette, first published on Eyestylist in August 2011 – www.eyestylist.com/2011/08/trend-watch-rich-print-and-pattern/

Finally special thanks to the dedicated sponsors of Eyestylist who continue to work with us and inspire us from across the world. Best wishes to you all for the New Year, we hope 2021 brings renewed health and prosperity, time with friends and families, happiness and peace.  Clodagh Norton – Eyestylist.com / January 2021.

| Eyestylist 28th December 2020

Shelter x Patrick Norguet

Shelter Manufacture collaborates with designer Patrick Norguet in ‘Fusion’, a line of glasses and sunglasses

A new line by the French eco-friendly independent label Shelter Manufacture with designer Patrick Norguet is based on complex architectural structures in Paris, London, Stockholm and Las Vegas. The collection features 10 designs in bio acetate, metal and wood with 70s undertones yet a clear and contemporary cosmopolitan aesthetic. Carefully thought out details bring a unique expression of architectural concepts and inspirations to the handcrafted range. Above: model Dublin in the new capsule collection, ‘Fusion’

Shelter x Norguet – model Stockholm

Shelter Manufacture use wood sheets from the French specialists Marotte in the creation of eyewear collections which uphold sustainable and eco-friendly values and an aesethetic direction that is minimal and timeless in its styling and colour palette. In this new collaboration, the frames are characterised by constrasting surfaces, playful yet discreet colour (including green, deep red, crystal and natural tones such as tortoiseshell), material pairings which offer something a bit different and bold variations on classic frame shapes including square, panto and multi-sided models.

Shelter x Norguet – model Austin

Patrick Norguet is an award-winning French designer who has worked in product design, fashion and architecture. His design agency, which was founded in 2000, is based in Paris. One of his most famous designs is the Rainbow Chair for Cappellini, a work of 1999 and the first of Norguet’s products in collaboration with the Italian avantgarde design house. The new collaboration between Shelter and Norguet was announced at the Silmo HorsLesMurs event in Jardin des Tuileries, Paris in October 2020. To find out more visit the websites: www.patricknorguet.com / www.shelter-manufacture.com