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There is a new name in the titanium frame fraternity in the UK, thanks to Stepper UK's decision to take on the Jacob Jensen collection from one of the homes of top-end titanium eyewear, Denmark.
If the name Jacob Jensen is familiar, that could well be down to the designer's 20 years working with Scandinavian luxury audio-visual company Bang & Olufsen.

In addition, he has turned his design skills to watches, telephones, egg timers, even a weather station, among his 100 or so creations, 19 of which are exhibited at New York's Museum of Modern Art.
Jensen went on to launch his eyewear collection at Mido last year, when he teamed up with Danish optical manufacturer Thiele, and Stepper took on UK distributorship earlier this year.

Intelligent eyewear
The lightweight, minimalist eyewear sits nicely with Stepper's own titanium lines, produced with a joint venture partner in the Far East, one of the world's largest frame manufacturers.
'Our feeling is that it is nice to add to the Stepper brand other brands that have a similar real value, rather than the gimmick of a designer label,' says Richard Crook, managing director of Stepper UK.

'Stepper's tag is Intelligent Eyewear, so it would have been contradictory to arrive with a fashion label collection.
'We don't chase the 20s-30s market. We don't have a trendy designer label and it's not an area we would do particularly well in. Over time, though, our design has developed and our product capacity is now larger.'
Crook believes that in Jacob Jensen he has found a brand that fits in with Stepper UK's values and philosophy, with many parallels. These he describes as precision engineering and a prioritisation of function in advance of the look, but not necessarily at the expense of the look.
The Jacob Jensen frames are made from titanium wire, which is doubled where stiffness is required and single elsewhere.
'The big thing is the hinge, which is machined from solid titanium, a central feature of every item,' he says. Counterweighted end tips ensure that the frames are not pulled down the face. 'It increases the weight slightly, but makes them more comfortable.'
There are 34 shapes, including squares and soft oblongs, in a choice of 20 colours, which can be demonstrated in practice with a neat colour swatch of frame eye shapes. Colours range from bright pinks and blues to classic greys and polished raw titanium Ð there is even the option of the Bang & Olufsen signature colours of silver and black.
The frames, which come with AR-coated demo lenses, are supplied with two cases, a soft slip-in one and a hard one that hints at the hi-fi connection, with a hydraulic-opening lid.
Every item is bespoke made to order in Denmark, with the possibility of non-standard side lengths, for example.
'The Scandinavians will always be at the top of the tree with titanium. And they have to keep ahead, developing innovative product to charge the prices they charge,' adds Crook.
Stepper UK, however, does not insist on minimum pricing of the line. 'We don't run practitioners' stores and it is not our right or role to dictate how many they must buy or display and how much they can sell them for,' says Crook. That said, he suggests that common sense dictates that 10 to a dozen frames make more of a feature in the practice.
Peter Reeve, Stepper UK commercial director suggests that people who like the collection get the point of it immediately when they pick up the frames. 'They just get it and feel really comfortable with it, seeing its potential.'
As a result, he predicts serious growth with the Jensen line next year, pointing out that it is already selling well in Harrods.

Stepper strength
The core of the company's business remains its Stepper frames, and will continue to, according to Crook. Thanks to its partnership in Asia, it can now turn around its own titanium product in a short space of time.
'Hans Stepper and I can bounce off ideas and two weeks later we can have a sample,' adds Crook.
One particular emphasis of the company is a heavy investment in developing rimless eyewear, that now includes flexi-sided hingeless models, with some new 'faded' colouring methods for titanium.
While singing the praises of titanium, Crook is keen to avoid calling it hypoallergenic. 'It's clearly the lightweight metal of choice and people use it surgically, but anyone can be allergic to anything. Nonetheless, there are far fewer allergy cases than with other common metals.'
In addition, the company is now working at combining acetate and titanium, and doing it differently, using titanium trims. Crook also explains that the injection moulding of Stepper's acetate frames is a far cry from cheaper product. 'To compare the two is like saying the fibreglass Reliant Robin car is the same as the Lotus. We don't do cheap and our lacquering set up is second to none.'
And while Stepper can make acetate frames in large eye sizes of up to 58 for the more mature market, there are definite signs that with its own rimless product and the designs of Jensen, it will increasingly appeal to a younger market.
As Crook says, 'A nice rimless is a gorgeous pair of spectacles.'
More details on www.jacob-jensen.c

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