buyer’s forum

The Return of Design Geeks

Amy Spiezio

Directions change, sands shift, and the world moves on. As the year ends and a new one begins, it’s a perfect time to take a moment from the festivities and frenzies of business to think about the compass points that will drive eyewear in the coming years. In speaking to frame company leaders, technology is high in the minds of those influencing the optical business.

“We live in an advanced culture where technology influences almost every aspect of our life,” notes David Freidfeld, president, ClearVision Optical.

This year tech will likely influence the way you manage your frame boards, the way you order product, and maybe even the way you dispense product. Behind the scenes, the latest scientific developments are also influencing frame design and manufacturing. Though licenses are a tent pole of the ophthalmic eyewear marketplace, Kenmark Optical’s chief creative officer David Duralde notes that design is coming to the forefront of the frame world, reclaiming a space that was overshadowed by the flash of big names.

“When I started, tech was a big part of what we did as designers,” says Duralde. “But people got seduced by labels and logos and it became fashion. We were in a place where all of a sudden, a lot of the focus on designers who were trained in the technology of eyewear making became [a focus on] marketing stars. There was a lot of brain drain, a lot of stagnancy, and nobody did anything but make pretty shapes.”

But now, he says, high tech has allowed frame manufacturers to recreate the design-intensive work using technology such as 3D printing and produce thoughtful details that have gotten lost over time. “We are using these things that give a bespoke quality,” Duralde says. “We are design geeks, and the design is what drives our clients and the consumers to love their eyewear.”