Viewpoint: Diary of a spectacle designer

These are strange times in our industry. As I flew back from Munich having attended Opti, I took stock of everything I’ve seen these past few post-pandemic months.

After the success in New York, I mobilised the troops to attend Opti. ‘Tom, it’s only three weeks away, there isn’t enough time.’ Three weeks later, I was standing on my lovely booth in Munich feeling very proud of what we can achieve when we set our minds to it.

As the show moved to a new slot in May, half the brands decided not to exhibit because they had shown all their new products earlier in the year. The absence of the big dogs like EssilorLuxottica and Safilo made the show feel like a niche eyewear show. There were only four halls instead of the six and the halls were sometimes empty, which was reminiscent of the early days of lockdown.