Technology has dominated the lens landscape for the past few years at Silmo and 2016 was certainly no exception.
While previous Paris shows have centred around particular technologies this year’s had an eclectic mix of new lens offerings. One of the most unusual, certainly from a UK standpoint, was Divel Italia’s Tattoo. This interesting idea creates artwork on the lens itself and impressed the judges of the Silmo d’Or awards process enough to put it on the shortlist of lens entries.
The way Tattoo works is by sublimating ink into the surface of the lens in any pattern the user requires. As the ink goes from solid direct to a gas state it becomes part of the lens mass creating a very stable and infinitely customisable decoration.
Perhaps the highest profile lens event at this year’s Silmo was the Hoya-led launch of Yuniku. This technology-led innovation takes the idea of personalisation and extends it beyond the lens and out into the frame.
Hoya has linked up with eyewear designer Hoet and 3D printing expert Materialise to put this idea into practice. It claimed a world first in vision-centric eyewear by using the personalised lens as the starting point for the construction of totally individualised eyewear.
The process starts with the wearers’ visual needs and the selection of the Yuniku lens. The position of the Yuniku lenses is set using Hoya’s vision software and facial scanning techniques. Then the frame, based on a Hoet design, is altered to the customer’s specification. Where the system differs from traditional eyewear manufacture and bespoke designing is to put the lens first, says Hoya, so optimum vision is always maintained and the position of the lens is not compromised by the design of the frame. Once designed to the customer’s requirements, the frame is then made using the latest 3D printing techniques by Materialise.
‘Yuniku is an exciting step forward in custom eyewear. By capitalising on advances in 3D printing technology, we have removed the limitations posed by traditional spectacles,’ says Jon Warrick, vice-president of global marketing. ‘For the first time, wearers can enjoy the ultimate in optical performance, without compromising on style or fit.’
‘The greatest impact and reach comes from those few innovations that transform entire supply chains, introduce new business models, increase operational efficiency, and greatly improve customer experience. I am proud to say that Yuniku is a prime example of transformative innovation,’ adds Alireza Parandian, global business strategist – wearables, Materialise.
Yuniku has echoes of Seiko’s xchanger sports frame which won a Silmo d’Or award at last year’s show. It uses Materialise and Hoet designs for a modular approach to sports eyewear. Director of lenses for Seiko Optical in France Alexandre Bouin says the great advantage in the system for opticians is that they do not need to carry lots of stock, merely use the modular elements contained in a drawer of parts supplied to the practice.
Pushing the quality of progressive lenses on was Seiko’s Prime which takes account of the prescription in each eye. Seiko also had a product for another issue which was gaining prominence at Silmo namely night-time driving glare.
Nikon’s take on the technology is its Night Drive Boost lens which cuts out the glare suffered by a large proportion of drivers according to Stephanie Vian of BBGR, which works alongside Nikon in France. ‘According to our studies one in two drivers are complaining about their vision when driving at night.’
She says the feedback was very good as it has been a problem opticians could not solve until now. The BBGR and Nikon stand was also showing a 3D virtual reality demonstrator – a feature available among all the leading suppliers and gaining a lot of interest from the visiting practitioners.
Another technology within the Essilor family, which Nikon and BBGR are part of, is Transitions. The BBGR and Nikon stand also had its take on the photochromic technology with its Xtractive Flash to Mirror. The lenses come in brown, green and grey with a range of mirror finishes only available to BBGR.
Being in France, Essilor was a large presence on the exhibition floor and, as director for professional and technical relations in Europe Dominique Meslin explains, health is at the top of the agenda.
Its product offering set the tone for many other exhibitors. Headlining on the Essilor stand was Crizal Prevencia coating which protects against the harmful wavelengths of blue light and its eye protect system which includes the protection in the body of the lens. To cope with the strain placed on modern eyes by the use of technology it also had its Eyezen product on show. This combines the blue light blocking capabilities of Prevencia with additional powers to help those using digital devices close up. ‘Lenses are no longer just corrective they have become corrective, protective and now preventative,’ said Meslin.
Blue light continued to make its presence felt in the lens market but through enhanced lens materials rather than in blue light filtering coating. Yin Lu, sales manager at Mitsui Chemical which supplies companies such as Tokai to allow it to produce its Lutina lens, explains that while most lenses will cut light above the 400nm wavelength Lutina goes to 420nm. Lu said: ‘It cuts out the damaging light from the sun but it’s not a coating – it’s in the mass of the lens.’ This means is can be used in a wide combination of other coatings and applications. It also means the lens does not have a yellow tinge or any blue reflection.
Perhaps some of the most interesting technology was to be found on the sunglass lens stands. One of the most prestigious names in the sunlens industry is Barberini and it was on hand to benefit from the resurgence in mineral lenses. Communications manager Federico Perissinotto says that while glass did suffer from weight issues in the past that was no longer so. Glass can be worked to thinner edge geometries and provided with a wide range of treatments to keep the surface clean. Rare earth metals enable colour enhancement, glass can be photochromic or even infra-red blocking while Barberini’s platinum process takes out impurities leaving greater clarity. Other innovations in the pipeline are a double mirrored lens, to be launched at Opti Munich. ‘The quality of glass is unparalleled,’ says Perissinotto, ‘The main point of glass is that it lasts forever.’ While plastic may approach the same clarity that will fade with sunlight and over time the material will lose its flexibility.
Carl Zeiss was absent from this year’s Silmo so was not there to show its driving lens. It was represented at the event by its sunglass division. It was there to cater to the needs of sunglass manufacturers and it provided an interesting insight into the products likely to be on frame racks in a couple of years’ time. Marketing specialist Sara Plaga says Carl Zeiss’s sunglass division works with trend specialists to devise the effects and colours which will be in the collections next year at the trade shows. She showed off the 2018 Influences which were built into lookbooks of future trends.
Captures was the theme for the growing cultural habit of built-in obsolescence. The story is built around the 90s remixed. This creates a vibrant, fleeting yet pixelated look at past trends. Shapes are angular, colours vibrant and glossy, almost gaudy.
Nature Encapsulated conjures up a feeling in which nature is ever more revered yet distant and fleeting. It is captured in fashion and art through an ethereal look which retains the fragility of natural beauty in modern techniques. Colours are muted pastels with a distinctly organic feel.
Teenage Thrills works to a colour palette of washed out sophisticated hues and neutral metals and colours. The feel takes its cue from a pop-art inspired look where icons such as Kennedy and Mandela are given a hipster makeover. Everyday items are elevated to art. Youth is extended through adornment and irony.
While the colours come from the styles described above Plaga says effects to be employed include glare enhancement. ‘We play with the graduated tint and the strength of the mirror. Anti-reflective coats are used as mirrors and a silver mirror is used against a clear base to provide a new effect. She also pointed to a move away from wrapped fashion sunwear to flatter lens types.
Lenses of a very different type, this time using UK technology, could be found on the Eyejusters stand. Its eponymous product is a variable focus ready reader. The correction, plano to +3, is altered by turning a dial discreetly housed near the hinge of the frame. Co-founder, Owen Reading, explains that modern lifestyles require focus at many different distances for many different reasons be that a hobby, DIY or using a smartphone or tablet computer. He says about 12 million emetropic presbyopes could benefit from the product which provides a quality, adjustable alternative to reading glasses.
There are a lot of people out there who need several pairs of reading glasses and might be put off by the cost. Eyejusters is a product between prescription reading glasses and over the counter readers. He says two thirds of people have various strengths of reading glasses and Eyejusters’ design, which is based on an Alvarez lens, has been designed as a practical everyday product. ‘The lens is sealed which is a huge advantage, it can be handled and cleaned,’ says Reading. Exhibiting at Silmo is a way of gauging interest in the product among opticians to see if they would carry the product, which is expected to retail around £70. Reading says there has been interest from across the world.
Although Eyejusters is due for launch in the UK next April, he is already talking to distributors, keen to get feedback from opticians, and is happy to deal direct.
He is eager to point out that he does not want to replace prescription optical products. ‘If you are short-sighted then go to an optician. We are not out to replace prescriptions, OTC [over the counter] reading glasses are cheap and cheerful and there’s an opportunity for a better quality product out there.’