If Roberta Baines is travelling, she’s likely to be somewhere beautiful, or supremely warm and sunny. From Tavat’s Italian HQ in the province of Treviso to the coast of California, her travels have brought business success and notoriety to the small independent brand, now well-known in the luxury eyewear community as the innovators of a unique hinge design in the “SoupCan” Series. We caught up with her in Europe between trips….
Explain how you are involved in the design of the TAVAT collection and its evolution? We are a family business, so everything we do is a collaboration and a conversation. My father, Jeremy, brings forth a lot of great “technical” ideas; whilst I have more of a feel for what’s happening in the market with regard to trends. I might know what we’re missing in our collection and where there’s opportunity and Jeremy will be able to apply that “TAVAT Touch”, ensuring there is always a technical imprint included. We work closely with our team of designers to ultimately create a new collection, and I focus on the details while Jeremy on the function and fit. Everything we do will have final approval from both of us.
You are constantly ‘on the road’. Explain your love of travel and what have been the high points in the last couple of years? Travelling makes the world a lot smaller and makes you realize that despite the cultures… we, as people, aren’t very different. I thrive on being in a place I’ve never been to before. I’m influenced and inspired by other ways of life: the food, the colours, the language, the history, the scenery… I think once you start to travel, it’s really hard to stop.
I’m grateful that I am able to travel while simultaneously building our brand TAVAT. I get the opportunity to meet our team, understand new markets, trends and fashion on a local level and collaborate with amazing people from around the globe. It’s very hard to choose one high point – there are many! – but one that comes to mind, just because it has always been a lifelong dream, was to visit Thailand and I did have the opportunity last year after the Hong Kong show. It’s also very cool to see that TAVAT is growing very well there! There are a lot of special projects and ‘Thailand Exclusives’ in the pipeline. I can’t wait to share them!
Explain how the two designs pictured here represent TAVAT in 2017 and comment on any details/innovations they represent. This is only the start of us playing with our popular “SoupCan” frame… by applying unique manipulations, which, for SILMO, you’ll begin to see more and more. We are experimenting with various applications, even with different materials, to give an already progressive design even more dimension. We continue to focus on the details, while continuing to improve on the overall function and fit of a frame. We often say “When Design is Limitless” – we’ll continue to do our best to make an even more intriguing product with a story to tell.
Can you give our readers a hint of what you will launch this Autumn? In addition to further exploring our SoupCan Collection, our Tactile Collection is getting a whole new look and feel as we will be releasing 4 new styles, with a new hinge and, in my opinion, a much stronger message than ever before. In addition, we will be featuring our first capsule collection, together with a wildly talented “Art Center College of Design” student. We had an amazing “Design-Flash” last year at the University, and when you see what these guys can do, well, we couldn’t help but be inspired. We will be presenting the first frame this SILMO – we will have more to share on this soon. www.tavat-eyewear.com – Photo (top) exclusively for Eyestylist.com by Elisa Biscotti – www.elisabiscotti.de CN
