Designer’s Notebook environmental IMPACT

As Aristotle wrote, “In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.” From the surf to the cityscape, eyewear designers glean their inspiration from their surroundings. In this edition of Designers’Notebook, some leading design minds in optical share how they interpret the world around them into eyewear creations.

SoCAL SPLENDOR

Perhaps it goes without saying that we are inspired by the light of Southern California, the way the ocean can alter color, and the desert’s consumption of it. But a deeper inspiration comes from thinking of nature as an expression of human potential and transformation. We have always loved a poem by the 15th-century poet Kabir that reads, “The seed is inside the horse-chestnut tree, and inside the seed there are the horse-chestnut blossoms, and the chestnuts, and the shade.” In designing glasses, we always hope to connect a person to this idea; to prompt the journey a little bit; to encourage that seed within to do its work.

Barbara McReynolds & Gai Gherardi, co-designers, l.a.Eyeworks

KLiiK style 485 from WestGroupe

THE RIGHT LIGHT

Natural light has a way of injecting dimension to color. It shapes its shades, captures its many variants. The KLiiK denmark collection welcomes these natural nuances using translucent acetate that transmits color in a soft but dramatic fashion, much like light passed through a prism breaks up into its component colors. Iridescence continues to be an optical phenomenon, a phenomenon that has inspired color choices and design. Light is the most influential element this season.

Bev Suliteanu, vice president product development, WestGroupe

Optical inspirations are growing trees and light’s transmission. (L to r) l.a.Eyeworks style Holland and WestGroupe’s KLiiK style 484

Vines and tendrils of flowers inspired Tura’s Elements Collection. Shown here (l to r), styles R203 and R205

ELEMENTS OF NATURE

The beauty of nature is captured in the Tura Elements Collection. Meticulously designed with embellishments of genuine crystal and semi-precious stones, the collection reflects a style that’s natural, effortless, and real. Inspired by rivers, vines, flowers, and raindrops, the organic, sinuous curves of these frames are contemporary, stylish, and feminine.

Our newest models in the collection include R203, a bold, full-rim plastic model with a vine wrapping around the temple. The vine is inset with genuine crystal accents. Another example is R205, a metal semi-rimless model with a more literal interpretation of nature. The temple has a very delicate twisting vine with two flowers, the ultimate in femininity.

Jennifer Coppel, vice president brand management, Tura, Inc.

Cityscapes inspire Claire Goldsmith’s design Oliver Goldsmith style Sloane

CITY SPECTACLE

The Oliver Goldsmith store in London is such an important source of inspiration for me and my brand—customers and ‘being British’ inspire me—and our store provides the perfect setting and a constant source of stimulus for me.

The clothes people choose to wear, the colors, the shape of their faces, seeing their eyes sparkle through the lens as they try on a frame they love—the premonition of seeing an unborn style that would be perfect for a customer, the stimulation is spectacular and the environment allows me to be particularly creative.

Claire Goldsmith, owner, Oliver Goldsmith

WEST COAST LANDSCAPES

Larry Leight constantly finds inspiration in the diverse and vibrant landscape of his home, LosAngeles. The environment and natural surroundings drive his creativity and eminently influence his designs. He derives inspiration from the colors of the eclectic, earth-tone palates visible in LosAngeles.

Hiking through the hills of Hollywood or Malibu, one might notice the rich color tones of the exotic bark and trees that inspire frame color names such as cocobolo, raintree, sandalwood, and moss tortoise. From surfing in the Pacific Ocean, Larry created the radiant seafoam color, as well as slightly light beige, which encompasses the long stretch of subdued sand on Southern California beaches.

On Larry Leight, founder and creative director, Oliver Peoples

Inspired by the surf and sand of Southern California’s beaches, Oliver Peoples’ Larry Leight added seafoam, in style OP Reigh, and slightly light beige, in style XXV-S, to his color palette

THE BAY AND BEYOND
I’m very fortunate to have an office that overlooks the San Francisco Bay with sights of redwoods and Mount Tamalpias in the background and that the trail I run ends at the Pacific Ocean in Muir Woods. The colors and textures of my surroundings have always been a rich source of inspiration—so much so that I designed a whole collection for many years around the “shapes and forms” from nature, l iterally taking such things as fish, feathers, twigs, and stones and incorporating them into temples. On a recent trip to Hawaii, however, I came across an imposing and quite old banyan tree, the trunk of which had both an earthly sculptural quality but was also reminiscent of a more modern, sleek Zaha Hadid architectural project. Taking cues from both, a new frame was designed that incorporates a modern aerodynamic sensibility but tempered by the organic touchstone from Mother Nature. Blake Kuwahara, president, Focus Group West

THE BAY AND BEYOND

I’m very fortunate to have an office that overlooks the San Francisco Bay with sights of redwoods and Mount Tamalpias in the background and that the trail I run ends at the Pacific Ocean in Muir Woods. The colors and textures of my surroundings have always been a rich source of inspiration—so much so that I designed a whole collection for many years around the “shapes and forms” from nature, l iterally taking such things as fish, feathers, twigs, and stones and incorporating them into temples.

On a recent trip to Hawaii, however, I came across an imposing and quite old banyan tree, the trunk of which had both an earthly sculptural quality but was also reminiscent of a more modern, sleek Zaha Hadid architectural project. Taking cues from both, a new frame was designed that incorporates a modern aerodynamic sensibility but tempered by the organic touchstone from Mother Nature.

Blake Kuwahara, president, Focus Group West

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Eyecare Business

Designers’Notebook