BlackBook Couture craft
BlackBook Couture craft MAISON BONNET MAYBACH TOM DAVIES Well framed Unusual materials and personalised design are hallmarks of a handful of purveyors transforming the spectacles industry, one pair at a time Right: four generations of the Bonnet family have supplied clients with glasses from their Paris atelier on an appointmentonly basis – fully customised glasses usually take up to three months to complete F ew people give eyewear design the serious consideration it deserves, believes Daniel Goldberg, founder of Antwerp firm Atelier Vingt-Deux (ateliervingtdeux.com), which specialises in titanium glasses and next year will launch a system for making bespoke spectacles, at £1,000 upwards, that he believes will revolutionise the industry. “People who have luxury cars, bespoke suits and the best sports equipment often don’t pay the same attention to their glasses,” he says. “Yet we wear them every day, often all day, so the frames as well as the lenses should be tailored to our faces, both in shape and size, and be exactly right for whatever activity we’re doing.” Goldberg’s solution relies on 3D printing in titanium – he feels acetate and plastic are not sufficiently durable – which can give infinite variation for an optimum fit and could equally be used for precious metals, an area in which his company has extensive experience. Another composite material being purveyed is Mylon, made from polyamide powder in a process called selective laser sintering, which Photos clockwise from top left: © jylsc (3), Stephen Jakub, Joël Saget (2), © Maybach Eyewear 68 CENTURION-Magazine.COM
Atelier Vingt-Deux MYKITA is offered by avant-garde maker Mykita (mykita.com). The Berlin-based company, which already custom-fits frames and is looking to develop a fully bespoke service in the future, will have a fair bit of competition for the latter market from, among others, the likes of Tom Davies (tdtomdavies.com). Among those in the vanguard with a fully bespoke eyewear service, Davies set up his company after working in the burgeoning East Asia glasses manufacturing industry with adventurous design in unconventional materials like white horn from Africa, or clear acetate with “floating” gold leaf, and commissioned models adapted to suit a client’s face shape and needs. With ready-to-wear prices starting at £295, and bespoke 25% more, Davies believes that ready-made frames are “always a compromise – it’s the 800 frames in the shop but only three that fit you in the style you want”. Other firms take a more traditional approach to their tailor-made offerings. Automotive brand Maybach (maybach-eyewear.com), which has spun off a range of high-luxe accessories, makes glasses by hand in its German workshops, using unusual mixes of materials, including multilayered fine woods, finished with piano varnish, buffalo horn, leather and gold. Trims and finishes can be customised and precious jewels added; there is even a limited-edition frame made entirely in 18kt gold. But the haute couture of bespoke glasses is unquestionably fourth-generation Maison Bonnet (maisonbonnet.com), an exclusive appointment-only atelier in central Paris where several fittings are required for each pair after 12 face measurements, three nose measurements and iris size of the wearer have been taken into account. Materials include shell, horn and leather – and with prices ranging from 0 to ,000 it might make the most frequently worn pieces of couture on the planet. avRIl gROOM Eye-openers Using innovative techniques, glasses manufacturers in Japan are adding to the optical options available 2 4 5 Photos Clockwise from top left: Philippe van Gelooven, © mykita, Fumito Shibasaki 1 3 8 1. Osawa Bekko’s all-tortoise shell series Kuai F 2. Made-to-measure spectacles from the same company. osawabekko.co.jp 3. FaCIal Index’s FG- 006 – even even the tiniest of screws is made of gold. facial-index.com 4. A handcrafted 18kt gold and celluloid KANEKO MEGANE frame. kaneko-optical.co.jp 5. Bamboo is used for BosTON Club’s Japonism 6. The Projection series from BC eschews screws on the hinges for a streamlined look. bostonclub.co.jp 7. YellOWs Plus combines two types of titanium in its Stephen model 8. While 69 CENTURION-Magazine.COM for its Judy, an usual lens shape is complemented by thin rims. yellowsplus.com 7 6 CENTURION-Magazine.COM 69
