The vast majority of attendees walking past the Vava stand, while the author was in the vicinity anyway, stopped to take a look. No surprise given the eye-catching frames on display and their attention grabbing potential as practice window models.
‘We launched Vava three years ago,’ says founder and creative director Pedro da Silva. ‘It is a pan-European company. I’m based in Berlin with one designer, while the warehouse and customer service are in Portugal. In Germany we have sales and further design team. Production is all done in Italy.’
Previously Da Silva worked in the fashion industry for many years with big names like Hugo Boss.
‘Being based in Milan, I met a lot of people in the eyewear industry. Also as a glasses wearer it was always difficult to find frames that I liked. So creating Vava was about shapes I like and inspired by the things I like.
Vava Yellow 000
‘The aesthetics and concept are inspired by the post-industrial society in which we live. We have this link with the city of Detroit because we feel Detroit was very avant-garde in becoming industrialised and is now very avant-garde in the collapse. We are also inspired by techno music [which originated from Detroit] and futuristic cinema like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Metropolis and Blade Runner. The idea that technology would be used to transform society into a better place moves my thinking and I’ve tried to translate this into the label.’
Vava Black 000
The Vava label is characterised by impactful geometrical shapes in Mazzuchelli acetate with flat lenses and features invoking machinery, the industrial world and technology. There are two distinct lines of sunglasses – White and Black.
‘White is inspired by a pure and clinical future with simple shapes,’ says da Silva. ‘Whereas the Black is the underground, dark and revolutionary future with stronger, bolder shapes.’
Additionally Vava has three sunglass designs made in collaboration with techno music pioneer Juan Atkins and a small optical offering.
‘The Mazzuchelli cellulose acetate is 100% recyclable and is made in a zero-waste factory,’ says da Silva. ‘This is a type of ecologically conscious product that I feel is the new luxury. The mineral lenses are of the best transparency from [Italian specialist] Barberini, which is also a zero-waste manufacturer. Our frames case is made of natural rubber and mimics the form of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey.’
‘We are a niche label and don’t want to be mainstream,’ continues da Silva. ‘We are in 20 countries currently and are looking to grow in the US and UK in particular. We have feedback that the UK is somewhat conservative regarding eyewear but we already work with two concept stores in London – LN-CC in Dalston and Layers in Bond Street – and now we start to open at suitable high end optical practices.’
Architectural approach
Also on a similar design-oriented approach to eyewear in New York were South Korean sunglass label Irresistor. Speaking through an interpreter creative director Jinhyun Park introduces the brand.
Irresistor Lamda
‘Our sunglasses are designed by me and are handmade in South Korea using very high quality titanium metals and acetate. The designs are inspired by Korean culture and Korean architecture in particular. Specifically the Lambda sunglass is a homage to the curves of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul (pictured below), which was designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid – who is associated with neo-futuristic design.’
Other notable designs in Irresistor’s latest Kraftnuwerk collection include Envuillgu, which is inspired by ancient Korean sundials, and Kubrik, which is a homage to film director Stanley Kubrick.
Irresistor Envuillpgu
‘I majored in electronic engineering so my speciality is circuit type designs,’ notes Park. ‘Convergence – different elements coming together to provide function – is what interests me most about eyewear.’
Irresistor Popstar
Taste and craftsmanship
Staying in Asia, Japanese label Eyevan 7285 and sister brand Tokyo displayed frames of interest in the Galleria area of Vision Expo East.
‘Eyevan 7285 is really a brand representing Japanese taste and craftsmanship,’ says Norihiro Hakamata, assistant manager overseas sale division at Optec Japan. ‘Tokyo is only in its second year and is still high quality but we are trying to go a different way with it and appeal to a younger generation interested in fashion and music. It is based around the city of Tokyo, which is known in Japan as the beautiful chaos, and the mixture of many cultures and designs there are the inspiration for the frames.’
Tokyo 106-002
Frames in the Tokyo collection are named after postcodes in different areas of Tokyo. Hakamata identifies sunglass models 106-002 and 106-001 as key designs along with the latest 106-005, which he describes as ‘perhaps challenging to sell but good to have in the window.’
Eyevan 7285 800
‘It is brand for urban fashionable people,’ says Hakamata. ‘For quality we use our own hinges – designed especially for Tokyo.’
For Eyevan 7285, Hakamata identifies 740 and 742 as among the top frames.
‘Eyevan is more expensive than Tokyo and features flat mineral polarised glass lenses and a hidden hinge,’ says Hakamata. ‘A lot of technology goes into each frame, the design concept for Eyevan is the use of new technology to achieve a vintage but altered look. It is a vintage shape but pick them up and look at detail you can see details and technology at work.’
Also in the collection are the 801 sunglass and 800 optical models, which feature a temple that slides then folds the frame into a clamshell like shape. The motion hides the screws from the outside and locks to protect the lens. The 742 sunglass also now comes in an optical version 553.
Retro chic
Despite a presence in optics for more than 30 years Norman Childs Eyewear displayed its collection at Vision Expo East for the first time in 2016.
The company is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and owns about 20 optical stores within the state in addition to its manufacturing business.
Norman Childs Jibbers
‘Our collection is mainly retro – styles inspired by the 40s, 50s and 60s,’ says brand director Daniel Childs. ‘I assist my father – Norman who founded the company – on the design along with a wider team. We like to go to thrift stores and old vintage stores to find some old school glasses for inspiration. We then put our own tweaks and modernise them into retro shapes with modern materials and colour.’
‘Colour is very central to our eyewear, we are big fans of Andy Warhol and pop art. He was a Pittsburgh native so we draw some inspiration from his works and put in some nice splashes of colour. We are really looking to explore and experiment more with colours and offer something unique. It helps us stand out from other brands in our own stores and I think here at Vision Expo as well. We’ve had people calling for years wanting to carry our collection so we thought we would come along to New York to take it further.
The company manufactures in California with Italian and Japanese plastics, French components, and American hand-crafting.
‘We’ve met people from all over the world and the UK is a good potential market for us. We are very proud of the reaction to the collection so far.
Fun with colour
US brand Bevel is synonymous with bright colour and president Richard Mewha was keen to show off his latest creations.
Bevel Tarragon
‘We’ve extended our collection of chiselled or bevelled titanium frames,’ he says. ‘We stamp the titanium to get the shape and then four times – on the inside, on the bottom and twice around the outside. This process gives it real depth – a kind of cool 3D effect and a different perspective on the face.
‘We are also having a lot of fun with colour. You can swap a softer colour to something more striking that transforms the frame or mix materials. With our acetate factory we are now able to make our own combinations and it has been a lot of fun picking custom colours.’
Bevel Persnickety
The new Bevel sunglass collection features frames named after herbs including Basil, which is a remake of an old 1980s piece, and Tarragon.
The other significant development for Mewha is a partnership with frame designer Blake Kuwahara.
Blake Kuwahara’s Pearia frame within frame technology
‘He’s wanted to launch his own collection for a while and has come up with this amazing frame within frame technology. We take a block of crystal acetate and we cut out the shape of the frame and then insert another frame into that shape – so it is almost like a mould. Then we fuse it via a lamination process. When you laminate two acetates bubbles can form and because they are different densities you don’t know how they will react to each other. So it is a very complicated and time consuming process to get the outcome perfect.’
The idea behind the effect is to give different perspectives from different distances.
‘It’s only in one shop in the UK so far as it is very new but there’s a great opportunity for people to start selling it,’ says Mewha.