Silmo: The out of the ordinary

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.