Kirk & Kirk held the official UK launch of its Vivarium and Solarium frame and sunglass collections at the Eyewear Concierge store at Ham Yard Hotel in London’s Soho last week.
The Solarium line comes in four sunglass styles in six colour options with the choice of six different jewellery pin details, from a fly to a lion and stallion, while Vivarium, which was launched at Silmo, comes in eight shapes.
‘We wanted to do something out of the ordinary but reflecting fashion and style that was easy to wear,’ explains Jason Kirk (pictured left) of the new collection. ‘People had an expectation on what we would launch and the most important thing it to surprise them. There’s no point doing something we’ve done before.’
The 9 carat gold or silver pins are created by artisan jewellers in the Midlands, and then inserted in the fronts of the acrylic frames in France. ‘The whole idea was to bring the glasses to life. The pins were inspired by Victorian butterfly collecting and all the imagery we use is based on Victorian paintings,’ added Kirk.
He said the benefits of acrylic were that it was light to wear, comfortable and opened itself to a range of colour and textures. ‘We like the quality of the factories in France and we work well with them. We genuinely know it is made in France,’ he said.
The designs are named after Victorian scientists, for example the Alex sunglass that comes in a smokey blue option was named after Scottish inventor Alexander Bain.
On asked whether Kirk & Kirk would consider opening a retail outlet, he added: ‘We’re not in a hurry but would consider it with the right partners who understand retail. I love retail.’
Eyewear Concierge’s Philip Meyer (pictured right) explained that the store, which opened in June 2014, was focused on small, independent brands, from Kirk & Kirk to handmade Japanese styles. ‘The product and service is tailored to the concierge service where you spend time with clients,’ he said.
While the retail space uses minimalist shelving boxes, moving away from busy frame racks, he added that they were still able to call upon over 500 frames stored in the outlet.
Meyer added that the Eyewear Concierge attracted international guests from the Ham Yard Hotel, with a mix of prescription eyewear and sunglasses. He has plans to open more stores in the first half of 2105 in central London with a similar focus on high end and specialised product.