Back stories conjuring up images of the natural world vied with futuristic shapes and the ethereal at this year’s Mido exhibition in Milan. The in vogue eye shape remained round with key colours provided by golds and pinks.
Previous editions of Mido have taken technologies characterised by 3D printing or titanium alloys as their cue, this year function was a key word as were insets and lamination. Wide acetate borders were also much in evidence. Materials and heritage continue as a theme as does the frame within a frame, detailed manufacture and covered metal.
The embodiment of the Mido ideal is the Lab Academy where 40 designers are invited to showcase their styles in a designated area. The Lab is a kaleidoscope of colour and form ranging from the classic styling of Peter and May to the futuristic and coloured plastic of Henau. Others look to materials: silver, wood, magnesium and artistry, as in Rigards, or glamorous shapes and colour as Barn Haute Lunetterie. The shocking is also there in designers such as Joseph Haver.
This Israeli designer has frames made in Italy featuring outre styles driven by geometry and iconography of the Bauhaus and love of the i-D magazine logo. The collection cannot be pigeon-holed but has a punky, rockabilly feel which picks up on themes such as the trend for uber-thick aceate borders and takes them to the max.
Joseph Haver
Optometrist Haver launched his brands in 2015 and took inspiration from 1960 space-age design and Andre Courreges (think Mary Quant and go-go boots).
Joseph Haver
Back in the main halls was a venture from Immagine 98 developed by a group of companies local to the Cadore area of the Dolomite mountains. It was picking up on a range of themes including heritage, artisan manufacture and the palette of the mountains. Cadore has a history in eyewear production stretching back to 1878 and Made In Cadore is lead by the designer Tiziano Tabacchi and aims to summon up the history and heritage of Italian eyewear manufacture in a new brand.
Made in cadore: Cerniera acqua
It introduces itself with the line: ‘Blue skies, white snow, green pastures, the warm colours of fir bark, all expressed through the clean lines and simplicity of stainless steel and acetate’ and talks about discovering the purity of the source of Italian eyewear.
Behind the mood music is a 12 piece collection with eight optical and four sun styles. The sunwear styles for women are bold and square with Aria combining materials in a bold statement on contrasting metal and plastic, and Luce sticking to acetate.
Metal is the material of choice for men in Ghiaccio, an aviator with an acetate strip on the bridge, Cielo gets a double bridge to complement its round eye. Classic shapes characterise the opticals with cateyes, panto and big acetates. Names such as Acqua, Luna, Flora and Terra continue the earthy theme. Throughout the range are natural colours described as sky and snow, bark and rock, sun and water, grass and flowers by MIC. The range also features a signature hinge which takes the profile of the mountains it seeks to evoke. The range makes its debut in April.
Mido is not just the reserve of overseas specialists and Optoplast Actman was creating a stir with its Orla Kiely collection. The range echoes the designer’s colourful, floral designs seen in everything from apparel and bags to stationery. Kiely creates a riot of colour and matched anything in the Lab. Head of marketing, Gabbie Renwick, said the designs are inspired by the textures and plants from Kiely’s childhood.
They are characterised by a bold 1970s style that suits the oversized plastics to be seen among many eyewear collections at Mido and evident in the Orla Kiely selection. Renwick says Optoplast likes to work with brands it loves. She says that although striking the brand has a broad appeal to a range of age groups. It is very wearable and would attract those looking for something individual. ‘The Orla Kiely collection gives us a chance to do something a little bit different,’ she says. Optoplast was showing a range of Kiely styles and was hoping for feedback on the collection before the final line up of styles is revealed later this year.
Colour was certainly the focus at Xavier Garcia Character Barcelona which was launching its spring collection and entering its minimalist era. The hallmarks of Garcia’s eponymous brand are colour, lamination and this year a minimalist feel thanks to finely worked acetate lines.
Xavier Garcia: Elodie
Nuria Antoli, head of communications, was on hand to explain the back story to Garcia’s journey. Under pressure from commercial interests he took his designs off the catwalk and into his own eyewear brand to regain authenticity and the freedom to express his art. Garcia is fiercely Catalan, his character is Barcelona, says Antoli. The collection uses bold and translucent plastics, mixed materials, metals, lamination and large eye shapes to convey the vibrancy and allure of the designer’s home city.
Neubau’s colour provides a useful foil to its parent company, Silhouette’s, ultra-minimalism. Sigmund and Karl provided a highlight for Mido, explains senior marketing manager Nina Kaltenbock. The brand’s frames are usually named after employees but Neubau took the psychoanalysts’ monikers for its latest style. It uses a round eye shape to offset plastic and stainless steel detailing and truncated outlines to produce a fashionable and striking feel.
Neubau: Erwin
The colours are on-trend rose, gold and silver while the plastics used contain caster oil to boost the brand’s eco-credentials. The green theme continues into a link up with bag maker Any DI for a recycled frame clutch which can be clipped onto the wearer’s apparel or accessories and doubles up as a cleaning cloth. Mido also marked the launch of Neubau’s 3D Meets Wire. This is a collection based on Neubau’s The Wire collection and marries up the wire frames with an eco-3D printed SPX to extend the range’s colour and volume.
Neubau: Sarah
Felix’s has a unisex circular silhouette with 3D offering a wide variety of colourways. This model can be left as a minimalist wire with a double bridge while 3D printing can be used to create a cateye outline in SPX. Manu also uses the double bridge for a fine, unisex and classic look again in a range of colours.
Erwin is an individual take on the aviator geometry sporting a thin metal or covered second browbar to give a modern look. It comes in a mass of 3D printed matte colourways. Sarah is a distinctly feminine frame with a cateye flare which can be moderate or accentuated by deeper 3D application. Its metal skeleton offers a hint of gold and the applied SPX can be coloured with a variety of understated hues.
Throughout the range 3D printing is courtesy of SPX which is 65% derived from castor oil plant extract. Neubau also reduces its use of plastics and constructs its cases and cloths from materials and processes with a low environmental impact.
Interesting use of wire was also being employed at the Design Eyewear group.
Its Face a Face Alium wire collection was using drawn stainless steel wire to create a colourful twist on the supra by using wire instead of nylon, explains communications manager Michaella Rene. ‘It’s like a supra but with stainless steel not nylon, we can use this to offer a line of colour to frame the eye and contrast with the colour in the rest of the frame. Filling in the artisanal back story she explained how Face a Face works with fellow Jura region craftsmen. The wire techniques involved have come from suppliers to the watch trade just over the border in Switzerland.
Rene says minimalism is not normally in Face a Face’s DNA and over in its sun range that is demonstrated through strong use of colour. Here Face a Face uses another strong theme, the frame within a frame, and employs colour to lift the wearer’s face in models such as Judde. Typpo uses colours to provide eyebrow pieces, says Rene. ‘It plays with thick and thin elements just like a typeface.’
Face a Face’s younger sibling Woow was on hand offering on trend shapes, vibrant colours and temple end messages courtesy of little love heart-style decals. The wording on the temple tips carry the witty remarks, as in Watch Out, that complement Woow’s cool looks, says Rene.
Woow: Roca
Fellow DEG company Pro Design was showing its technical skill by adding colour to its minimalist theme through the use of CXT and through its deliberately engineered frames. As well as folding models it provides wearers with the option of nose pads and a screwless hinge on its Axiom line.
Its Essential is inspired by Danish design classics and Pro Design says the trend this season is all about lightness; both in choice of materials and coloration. This leads to materials such as titanium and CXT, which can be cut thin.
Pro design: Danish Heritage
Technicality and sporty design are developed in ProDesign’s Axiom which showcases a specially designed hinge and wide us of colour. The marque’s Danish Heritage collection is an edgy interpretation of hip, which says Rene, offers innovative design picking up on urban trends. Elsewhere this season’s industrial look is in evidence with subtle design details such as exposed screws and a bridge inspired by a spring.
Size options are a feature of many ranges and for DEG it has led to a new range called Nifties. This is a Danish collection that retains adult-length temples but offers reduced eye sizes for smaller faces. ‘This is working very well as there aren’t many frames designed for people with smaller faces,’ says Rene. The brand uses flexible, ultra-thin stainless steel to improve the fit while colours remain monochrome on the fronts with complementary warm tones: amber, turquoise duck green, on the temples.
Nifties: NT 8477 4021
Elsewhere fellow Danish brand Fleye Copenhagen was using Danish smørrebrød with its textures and layering as its inspiration. The 16 year old Danish brand is known for minimalistic lines and colour, explains Elise Hoang from the press team. ‘We have always been quite colourful. The collection takes the colours and layering of smørrebrød with its flowers and fish.’
Fleye: Crenn
The materials used range from acetate and beta titanium to carbon fibre and wood. This provides many opportunities for matte colour and texture combinations. ‘Carbon fibre and wood isn’t something that has been seen before. The main benefit of the product is the weight, it’s very light,’ she says.
Fleye worked with Danish chef Rasmus Kjaer who used lobster and mackerel and other seasonal ingredients to make smørrebrød creations exclusively for Fleye. ‘These were used as inspiration for our spring/summer collection,’ says Hoang. The intention had been to create a small selection of arty styles but the collaboration has resulted in 42 new styles for the SS18 season. If it is something a little more avant garde you are looking for then Fleye’s Rocca took the trend for metal and the frame within a frame theme to create an outstanding signature piece for its Signature collection.
Fleye: Roca
Blackfin was making a splash on its stand with an announcement by president and CEO Nicola Del Din. He was celebrating the brand’s Parent, Pramaor and its move from an OEM producer just eight years ago with a turnover of ¤300,000 into a ¤10m turnover distributor and branded eyewear supplier today. Blackfin is known for its metal work, in particular titanium and Del Din unveiled some limited edition gold versions to bring even more glamour to the brand along with celebrity endorsement and commitment to opening subsidiaries around Europe. ‘A great company isn’t defined just by great products but be being good on a lot of levels,’ he says.
Black fin: ARC
Speaking to Optician about the UK market he adds: ‘There are more possibilities there than I expected. I thought it was a place of the chain stores but I was wrong.’
New models Silverton and Silverdale take Blackfin’s trademark beta titanium and utilise it for the bridge as well as the temples. A fine wire, rivetted bridge lightens the look of both styles. Sunset Reef takes the frame within a frame idea and executes in its trade mark Blackfin two-tone titanium style. Blackfin was also showing its limited edition of 499 ARC sunglasses in titanium with its swordfish temples. The colours are stunning metallics with contrasting and mirrored lenses.
Okia: Frameout
Experimenting with metals is second nature to ic! Berlin which was showcasing its support for a desert-based Mars survival mission. The Austrian Space Forum is running a project which aims to mimic the conditions on the red planet and ic! Berlin has placed its lightweight, screwless eyewear on to the astronauts’ faces to see how it performs.
IC! Berlin: Fadeaway
Baseline is a square form aviator which uses a faux shield to accentuate the large eye size. The astronauts will wear the pearl, dusty pink option. Other colours include black, blue, graphite and burgundy. Layup is also in the mission. It is a browbar-bridged futuristic panto, it takes the colours of baseline but adds mustard yellow.
The same yellow is used in Fadeaway a more traditional aviator shape which uses rubberised covering, and a wire second bridge to create a warmer silhouette. Alley-Oop is a round eye covered piece borrowing the rubberised material across the whole frame. It comes in black, grey, graphite, pearl and pink. The frames have an average weight of just 20 grammes and will be worn in the rigours of the Omani desert.
IC! Berlin: Baseline
The marque was keen to make clear it is not all about minimalist metals and on hand was designer and Jeremy Miklitarian. Having worked for the brand and set up his own label he has returned to add a splash of colour taking a cue from his own eyewear and his ceramics.
Jeremey Miklitarian
Back on earth Invu is a brand on the march in the mid-priced sunglass sector with its ultra-polarised range of sunwear which now sells around the globe. Despite being a relative newcomer Invu has a wealth of experience in the form of ex-Polaroid staff. Alongside a colourful kids’ collection were some styles launched for Mido and the Unicorn special edition. This collection takes the in vogue wire round eye, rose gold and matte finish as its starting point and adds vibrant pastel coloured lenses inspired by the mythical creatures.
Invu: T2817A
Classic lines, colour and construction all come together at Bevel. President of parent company Incite International, Richard Mewha says Bevel has always done a lot of titanium and at the show he described a capsule collection named after detectives using the material. ‘Bevel has always catered to a lot of smaller faces, men and women. This collection is going back to that.’
UK agent Peter Robinson says the key is to create a great product but bring a little fun too, all of the collection have a theme for the names. He says aficionados of the brand ask what the next theme will be. In the detective collection lamination is used to bring colour but is also used to create a frame which allows lenses to be mounted traditionally and not require inline glazing.
He says the firm always approaches design from an optical angle. It works with Japanese manufacturers to bring a technical excellence but in a way that brings benefits to wearers in terms of comfort, fit and glazing needs. This builds the brand’s reputation and customer loyalty. ‘We do not intend to be fly by night.’ Robinson says Bevel is now looking to mix titanium and beta titanium and play with the material by cutting it thicker.
Komono is a brand that wants to be wearable. The Antwerp marque designs watches and eyewear and is steeped in the fashion scene of the lowland city. Komono’s Opticals collection spans many of the on trend styles at Mido, round eye, classic acetates or metals, earthy colours, rose gold and all eminently wearable.
Komono: Colin in Sage
Marketing manager Annabel Greeve says the brand is about individuality by allowing the wearer to be themselves and express their personality. The range uses the colours of printing, CMYK, but also delves into urban sportswear. Throughout the range this is seen for a variety of wearers from the academic chic of Sinclair to the warmth of Colin in Sage.
Despite Mido’s reputation for outre styling eyewear also has to be wearable as Katy Dajnowski of OGI Eyewear made clear. OGI offers stylish frames across five main brands. Innotec: sleek and technology led; OGI: bold, colourful and contemporary; Seraphin: neoclassical opulence; Bon Vivant: enchanting and Red Rose: classic timeless appeal.
Red Rose: Armino
This last brand demonstrates why a trip to a trade show always yields results. The brand comes across as a perfectly sound female line. Delve a little deeper and what stands out are attractive male styles constructed from high density acetates and stainless steel in earthy colours and a wide variety of sizings and options.
If manufacturing excellence and detail is your thing then the design has to be Danish and the manufacture Japanese. That is encapsulated in Nine as founder Jens William Sorensen explains. ‘Everything we do is produced in Japan, we want to do everything properly and we even have a code of conduct. They [the frames] are not made in China by children.’ He cites the example of the prototyper who has served 10 years as an engineer and then another 10 years as an artisan before he can produce prototypes unsupervised.
Nine: BT 2513
Sorensen is obsessed by lightness, the company name explains the idea that everything it does weighs less than nine grammes. Nine’s IBT, Integrated Block Titanium, is an example. A single piece of titanium is used to mill the whole front and hides the rim screw that holds the lens in place. At the hinge the temple is designed to cover the mechanism. Details is ingrained into each piece from material choice, artisan manufacture and size options. ‘It’s the best of both worlds’, he adds. ‘Clean Danish design and then you have Japanese craftsmanship by people who really care what they are doing.’
