Rolf Spectacles
The Austrian manufacturer is known for using natural materials like wood and buffalo horn to create exquisite hand-crafted ophthalmic frames and sunglasses.
So, it came as a surprise that a visit to the company’s booth at Silmo revealed an entirely new collection made using additive manufacturing – and titanium.
After a couple of Zirbenschnapps (an Austrian schnapps made using pinecones), the shock had begun to wear off. Talking to company co-founder Roland Wolf, the move to titanium made sense. The innovative hinges that the company has used in the past to overcome the limitations of wood and horn were so efficient, designers started to look at moving that to other materials and production methods.
The frames are manufactured in Munich by Airbus before travelling to Rolf’s HQ in Tirol, Austria, for hand finishing and coating. From a dispensing perspective, there are several useful features within the collection. The Flexlock hinge has been repurposed for the new frames but still retains the different strength elastomers for variable temple tensions. Different temple end tip options can also be specified – a thin, silicone covered wire and solid titanium. A nose pad option is also available.
The range comprises 16 ophthalmic styles across a series of wearable silhouettes and a five-strong sunglass collection that pushes the boundaries of 3D printing with complex lattice constructions.
Theo Eyewear
Theo Eyewear is one of those brands that has a die-hard, loyal fanbase. Get a patient into a pair of Theo frames and they’ll be a customer for life. Granted, the process of getting one of the Belgian brand’s frames on to a face, might be a challenging one, given its penchant for the bright, the bold and the brazen. However, the rewards are worth the effort and even the most unusual silhouettes can sit perfectly on the face.
One of five collections released at Silmo was Graffiti, a tribute to street art and in particular, the marshmallow-like letters that are symbolic of the art form. The lettering was used first by New York graffiti artist Phase 2 in the late 1970s and the ‘bubble-letter’ or ‘softie’ would become influential around the world.
This graffiti influence has been released on the stainless-steel frames in different ways. Across the three typically Theo silhouettes, bubble shapes with distinctive rounded ends have been used in contrasting colours to the frame’s base hue. Selected variants within the collection feature acetate sections. Eight colours, from reserved olive green to bright orange, mean there is a colour for everyone.
Nogs Eyewear
In recent years, there has been much fanfare about facial scanning systems coupled with 3D printing changing the way opticians work. In the UK at least, these systems have really struggled to find any traction. In the rest of the world, progress has been better for these tailored eyewear systems, but not by much.
If there was a way to circumvent the scanning system element and still end up with a tailored frame, that would be of interest to opticians, right? Well, there is now such a system and it was presented for the first time at Silmo by Nogs Eyewear, a French eyewear brand specialising in 3D printed frames. The company calls the system, Artisans 4.0, because it mixes a hands-on approach with modern manufacturing technique.
The device is simple to use. First, select a nose fitment from the different shapes and sizes and then plug it into the nose bridge. Then slide the brow bars to select the appropriate eye size, that are shown in a small indicator on the front of the frame in increments of small, medium, large and extra-large. Finally adjust the temples until the correct size (between 140 and 155) is reached.
Once this process is complete, the frame is ordered to the patient’s measurements. While the system lacks outright accuracy of a system that analyses thousands of pick up points on a person’s face, the device makes a bespoke dispense more personal with an added talking point of 3D printing.