A-Z of Eyewear: STU

France’s annual eyewear exhibition hosted 1,000 exhibitors from 42 countries and 37,000 visitors across 80,000m² of hall space in 2019. When the inaugural Silmo Mondial de l’Optique was held in 1967, it hosted 58 exhibitors in the city of Oyonnax, near Jura, the country’s epicentre of frame manufacturing. As Silmo grew, it was hosted in Oyonnax and Paris on alternate years before making its permanent home in Paris in 1981, every autumn at the Porte de Versailles.

Its awards were launched in 1994 to recognise the excellence, creativity and innovation of the optical industry. Silmo has grown internationally and has hosted offshoot events in Istanbul, Bangkok and Sydney. It celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017 but in 2020, the usual event at Paris Nord Villepinte, its home since 2010, was cancelled because of Covid-19. However, the show must go on and organisers adapted by taking it on the road in October, visiting various French cities and exhibiting the latest innovations the industry has to offer.