“What looks connected is never completely whole”
theo’s latest collaboration project with a student from the Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp highlights the work of Byron Wang. Born in Taipei and artistically shaped in Florence and Antwerp, Byron brings different cultural influences together in a sculptural visual language. Wang says eyewear has always been part of his world. His parents run an optical store in Taipei, and he grew up surrounded by frames, colours and design. Above: one of the frames in the theo x Byron Wang collaboration project – photography by © Alain Six
Wang’s graduation collection, entitled Lost in Transitory explores the space between connection and distance, between people moving towards each other without ever fully merging and between holding on and letting go. This was also the starting point for the eyewear release, which features 12 exclusive designs for each of the collection’s 12 silhouettes, designed as an integral part of the design story.
Described as “challenging the conventional logic of eyewear”, the frames feature temples which emerge unexpectedly from below and forms which detach, shift and reconnect. What first appears to be one continuous object reveals twists, openings and unexpected relationships between individual elements.
Light adds another layer of movement in these designs. Depending on the angle, colours, transparencies and reflections change. Lines disappear and reappear while layers of acetate reveal themselves differently with every movement. The colour palette, which started from theo’s signature choice of colours features new combinations created to connect with Byron’s fabrics, textures and colours. The designs also play with the tension between symmetry and asymmetry, balance and deviation.
The eyewear developed with Byron for this project consists of unique prototypes – it is not part of a commercial collection. Its value, says the company, lies in experimentation and the dialogue between fashion and eyewear. Find out more at https://www.theo.be
Credits: Photography & models: @marvismmm, @eliasxvntt, @maelisauvage and @eyckermanluka
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