Paris show draws best of British design

With Silmo now less than a month away, exhibitors and practitioners are gearing up for this autumn's premier optical event in Europe.

The show, which takes place from October 21-24 in Paris, attracted 1,003 exhibitors from 34 countries and nearly 43,000 attendees last year and this year's event promises to be even more impressive.

Around 1,050 exhibitors are expected, with 24 UK exhibitors, including Booth & Bruce, Continental Eyewear, Kirk Originals and for the first time, Mondottica and William Morris Eyewear.

A huge 1,200m² Alain Mikli stand will include the much anticipated launch of the collection by British frame designer Alyson Magee.

Magee, pictured below with Mikli, left her post as creative director at Face à Face two years ago to develop her own collection, which will be distributed by Mikli Studio.

A press event at Mido in May announced the launch, but Silmo will present the first opportunity to view any product.

Continental Eyewear, exhibiting for the 11th time, is launching new frames across its collections with a focus on X-eyes, which will fill half its stand.

'We are introducing 10 new plastic and metal models for the X-eyes collection, which has more than quadrupled in size since its launch 16 months ago,' said sales and marketing manager Neal Grimason.

Mondottica will feature new collections from Ted Baker and Hackett and is hosting an additional launch for Mambo at a venue outside the show over the same period.

'Expect more colour from Ted Baker and both contemporary and classical styling for Hackett to appeal to the traditional English gentleman,' said marketing manager Robert Ager.