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The family-owned company has a customer in NASA, but the space-age screwless and hingeless eyewear still owes much to human intervention, with a total of 80 people involved in each frame's manufacture. Each model goes through 180 work phases and 140 manipulations, some of which are hidden from the prying eyes of those touring the plant.
Silhouette was formed in 1964 by husband and wife team Arnold and Anneliese Schmied who wanted to produce frames integrating fashion under a name that would be recognisable worldwide. Now 84, Schmied senior is still a regular at the headquarters, where today's rimless eyewear seems light years away from the early acetate models. One design on display is the collectible Futura sunglass from the mid 1970s which had a starring role in the Emmanuelle film.
Silhouette, one of the largest employers in the design-oriented city, has now been taken over by sons Klaus and Arnold. Klaus, in charge of production, explains that they have resisted pressure to join the manufacturing exodus to China. They looked to Asia, but decided that it would be too difficult to transfer the know-how, much of which is second nature to its long-serving employees.
'We decided to stay in Austria for as long as possible and try to be smarter. The labour costs are extremely high so we have to look for new solutions for quality products. In Austria there's no chance to make cheap frames. It's not a solution for us. We only do exclusive frames at a high price and the costs are integrated.'
The company has learned from its mistakes and one of those was trying to produce a lower cost line for the US market, which it eventually discontinued. In any case, trying to produce two different qualities on one site would bring the quality down, he explains.
Schmied adds that Silhouette has taken a different approach to other European manufacturers, whose thousands of brands can be seen at trade shows and whose models he describes as interchangeable. Unlike the fashion brands, Silhouette no longer updates its collections four times a year, reducing its cycle, which, he says, stops the best ideas being lost on the market.
Its only licences are the sporty Adidas and the high-end Daniel Swarovski, and along with Silhouette that is where the concentration will remain. 'We could have had a lot of licences over the years, but three brands are perfect for us and there is a lot of work and opportunity to make more out of these.'
The company now makes over three million frames a year, almost two million of which are under the Silhouette name, and exports make up 95 per cent. Given the fact that there are eight million Austrians, he suggests there is plenty of room for growth, especially with the ageing population.
Much of the emphasis is on quality, working on difficult solutions and fine tuning. For example, the manufacturing machinery is bought off-the-peg and then improved by Silhouette engineers. 'We could use them as standard machines, but you have to be a little better,' says Schmied.
Forty tool makers at the plant produce moulds that are accurate to 1,000th of a millimetre and are on hand for repairs. The moulds, worth in the region of €7,000 each, are cleaned after each process by the machine operator to ensure the smooth surface finishing.
Some of the small differences in Silhouette's frames may not be immediately obvious, says Schmied, for example the 0.9mm dimensions, but if you wear the frames constantly you notice them.
NASA was clearly impressed enough to choose the 1.8g Titan Minimal Art as standard eyewear for its astronauts. 'We did not pay them, just as we do not pay for actors to wear our frames. We still believe if they want them, they should buy them.'
Time-consuming production stages include rolling in ceramic and wood chips to remove any sharp edges, followed by tumbling in walnut chips and titanium colouring techniques including sputtering. There are numerous cleaning steps and checks throughout the manufacturing cycle, with a final inspection and hand finishing.
Silhouette therefore has the confidence to offer a long guarantee. 'We're high end so we give more of a guarantee. It has to be excellent quality if we are selling at a high end price. It mustn't come apart after a year or two and if something happens we replace it fast.'
He gives the example of working with the SPX material in the early days, making thick and light designs using an in-line system. 'They broke and we had no idea why. Then we discovered the supplier had changed the mixture of the material, so we overcame that.'
While SPX is very much part of Silhouette's future, with a large new SPX moulding unit added last year, Titan Minimal Art is the star act. The hingeless model was the creation of designer Gerhard Fuchs and was first launched in 1992. However, at that point the lenses were attached to a continuous bridge made from age-hardened copper alloy, so durability was an issue.
That was all to change in the late 1990s, when Silhouette decided it was time to have another go at the design, in spite of reservations from Arnold Schmied senior about revisiting the concept.
Fuchs then spent hours working behind the scenes, almost covertly, to come up with the solution. He had joined Silhouette as a tool-maker in 1981, aged just 15, and was promoted to the design department 10 years later when his frame drawings on sandpaper were shown by his boss to the company founder. Once he had been discovered, there followed a design course in Germany and the fruits of his tooling and design experience have led to numerous iF and redot awards for Silhouette. He now has his own design studio in Tyrol, in addition to his Silhouette role.
At the heart of the Titan Minimal Art re-launch was the discovery of hyper-flexible Japanese titanium alloy, the ideal material for the three-piece mounting system. A prototype was created and the hingeless version with a new plug-in connection was arrived at in 1999.
Future plans
The company will continue this focus on lightweight materials, technology and screwless creations, according to Sonia Serlenga, an industrial designer originally from Milan who is also on Silhouette's creative team. Rimless designs and the philosophy of 'openness' and 'seeing without limitations' make Silhouette frames a sophisticated alternative to short-term fashion needs, she says.
Serlenga seeks inspiration from nature, travel and magazines, as well as product from other fields. These include the classic lines of furniture, the reduced design of the iPod, even the sporty colours and contours of climbing shoes.
Silhouette, adds Fuchs, looks to the future when designing, unlike fashion that looks to the past. 'We try to evolve the product, making timeless designs, so that in 20 years they still look good, like the Charles and Ray Eames chair, for example.'
The latest developments to the Titan range include a new titanium alloy and a new bridge, as well as materials with special matt and rubberised finishes for a better grip. The sides of some of the new designs are wider, yet still flexible and feature contrast inner detailing.
Schmied says that Silhouette's philosophy is to get the product right and then talk about it, but not as loudly as some companies.
'The principles are still the same as 50 years ago - you have two eyes and two ears. But we've always been known for making something new, we're always slightly different to the industry.'
The company's decision to concentrate on rimless is not a gamble, he says, as the frames are so neutral you can sell them to anyone who likes light designs they don't want to hide behind.
Silhouette's success has also brought attention and offers from other companies, but it is resolutely a family-owned firm, without any reliance on banks for funding. As a result, he says it has not been forced to grow to meet the needs of others.
'If we grow, we grow out of our own possibilities.'