Eyewear laced with Belgian style

Fashion frame firm Theo of Antwerp has created the 'Antwerp Mesh' and 'Bruges Laces' designs currently on show on the Belgium Pavilion at the World Expo in Japan.

The founders, Wim Somers and Patrick Hoet, Belgium opticians, had to present new products that were '100 per cent true Belgium' and started with the idea of using one of Belgium's strongest icons - precious lace from Bruges.

A piece of authentic lace was scanned and its design was computerised, each perforation in the lace pattern was redrawn and transformed digitally. They also needed a more 'masculine' design and a mesh pattern was used to design the Antwerp Mesh.

'The main idea was to make a diadem that could be used as a light-diminisher when put in front of the eyes. It would function as a kind of sunglass, in the same way eskimos use a piece of wood with a slit in order to minimise the light intensity of the northern sun,' said the company. Theo used stainless steel for flexibility and a chemical etching technique to create the complicated design.

At the same time, Theo decided to adapt the design to usable sunglasses, contacting a manufacturer of sunglasses with a two-tone metallic coating that had the technology to reproduce the mesh or the lace design, where the patterns are not visible when looking through the lens.

The company now has a collection of one diadem and three sunglasses of the lace and mesh patterns, each coming in four colour combinations: silver and red, silver and lilac, black and red and single-tone lilac. The inside colour is different from the outside colour, for a rich lining.

The diadems have hinges, allowing them to be folded in a case just like regular sunglasses and they have adjustable nose pads.

Theo employs over 30 people in the US, Europe and Japan, and has some 1,700 optical clients in about 50 countries.

Further details on: +32 227 0505, or visit www.theo.be