Brunel designers exhibit hinge solutions

Sponsored spectacle research projects by two design students from Brunel University this month featured at an exhibition at Oxo Tower Wharf in London.

Each had hit upon hinge screw solutions, with sponsor VARG Eyewear looking for a screwless hinging solution which also was suitable for mass production.

Design engineering graduate Jack Waring said: ‘Anyone who wears glasses knows that with current hinges, screws are always working loose, falling out and getting lost.’

Product design graduate Neethu Mathew’s produced flexible glasses that could avoid issues with nickel allergies.

She said: ‘Spectacle screws are the bane of an optician’s working life. But materials that are strong and flexible enough to dispense with the hinge can potentially cause irritation. My solution was to select a material strong enough and bendy enough to lose the hinges and coat it in an inert modern material – Diamondlike Carbon - which doesn’t cause issues even with the most sensitive skin.’