TrendSpotting
THE BIGGEST TRENDS + NEWS YOU CAN USE
ARE 3D-Printed Lenses IN YOUR FUTURE?
Richard van de Vrie is a straightforward and pragmatic visionary. The founder of Netherlands-based Luxexcel, the inventor of 3D printing for optics and photonics, van de Vrie is forging an untraveled path to the 3D printing of eyeglass lenses (shown here).
“The R&D timetable for Luxexcel 3D-printed lenses is between one-and-a-half and three years, depending on the funds we have and the time we can spend on development,” van de Vrie recently told Eyecare Business. “In the case of a potential partner putting sufficient funding on the table, we can set up a dedicated R&D tech team on ophthalmic lenses and develop dedicated desktop printers that could be available to opticians, doctors, and labs.”
THE CREDIBILITY: With an executive background in the lighting industry as the CEO of Lighting Partner BV and vice president of two international publicly traded companies—Sylvania Lighting International and Lighting Science Group Corporation—van de Vrie is no stranger to risk taking.
Luxexcel’s activities focus on printing prototypes and manufacturing badges of LED optics for the lighting industry, but its technology has also been able to produce the world’s very first pair of functional 3D-printed glasses.
THE QUESTIONS: But is the optical industry truly ready for 3D-printed eyeglasses—including the lenses?
While Luxexcel has made the world’s first 3D-printed glasses (both frame and, for the first time, 3D-printed lenses) for King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, can the innovative company make this happen on a large scale?
THE FUTURE? Richard van de Vrie is (nearly) sure of it.
“At Luxexcel, we hope to be able to close a cooperation deal within the coming months with one of the bigger ophthalmic companies or with a leading company that will be able to help us to disrupt the market,” he says. Follow along here: luxexcel.com
—Erinn Morgan
Where Technology Reigns Supreme
Smart eyewear makes its mark on CES 2016
1. Video and audio combine for virtual reality gaming; 2. Robots are out in full force, to everyone's amusement; 3. 3D printers on display; 4. Virtual reality eyewear is a hit
more than 170,000 people from the technology industry descended on Las Vegas last month for CES 2016 (formerly known as the International Consumer Electronics Show), which featured a record 3,800 exhibitors spread over 2.5 million square feet of exhibit space.
Trending at the show was “smart home” technology and the ever-popular drones. And yes, there was a healthy dose of tablets, curved TV screens, and robots at every turn.
Optical and vision were represented as well, with lines forming outside the Oculus booth and others to get a peek at the newest in virtual reality and augmented reality gear. With no news coming out of the Google Glass camp, other companies’ smart glasses were on full display.
Here are some of EB’s favorite optical finds from the show:
INFO: developer.sonymobile.com/products/smarteyeglass, rochesteroptical.com
Here again, Rochester Optical’s Smart GOLD lenses make this product Rx-able for eyeglass wearers.
INFO: vuzix.com, rochesteroptical.com
INFO: righteye.com
INFO: spyoptic.com
As it has in past years, The Vision Council (TVC) was in the middle of the high-tech excitement to talk to attendees about the vision-affecting results of staring at technology all day—digital eye strain. TVC exhibited a range of eyewear designed to combat the symptoms of digital eye strain and handed out copies of its just-released report on the topic, “Eyes Overexposed: The Digital Device Dilemma.”
The report contains statistics on digital device use as well as information on digital eye strain and harmful blue light. Their efforts were rewarded with major stories on the topic in newspapers like The Washington Post and news programs like “CBS This Morning.”
For more from the report, see our article on blue light and digital eye strain on page 62.
INFO: thevisioncouncil.org
—Susan Tarrant
VISION EXPO EAST REGISTRATION OPENS
International Vision Expo East has opened registration for its 30th anniversary conference and exhibit, to be held at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York City. The event will be held in April this year, with the educational conference running April 14-17, and the exhibition running April 15-17.
Attendees can now register at the Vision Expo website, and take advantage of discounted rates at numerous hotels near the show venue.
Throughout its 30-year history, Vision Expo, in partnership with Reed Exhibitions, has supported efforts by The Vision Council to develop programs and initiatives that position the industry for success and expand patient awareness of eyecare and eyewear services and products.
To register or to learn more, visit VisionExpoEast.com. To engage with and support the growth of the eyecare community year-round, join VisionariesCommunity.com.
Leading as One
Essilor NSM inspires + surprises
1. Howard Purcell, O.D., FAAO, kicks off the opening general session with special guest, child opera star Amira Willighagen; 2. Bob Colucci leads the IDD General Session; 3. Pete Hanlin, director of technical marketing, announces the launch of Smart Blue Filter during opening general session; 4. The Welcome Dinner gets off to a rocking start
held in Texas Hill Country in January, Essilor of America’s National Sales Meeting (NSM) kicked off with a surprising aria that garnered a standing ovation. For its opening general session, the company brought in 11-year-old global opera star Amira Willighagen, who was backed by an on-stage orchestra conducted by Essilor’s Howard Purcell, O.D., FAAO, senior vice president, Customer Development Group.
A very impressive start to an inspiring event.
With the theme “Lead as One,” the NSM featured education, networking, team-building events, and awards dinners for attendees ranging from Essilor’s independent distributors to executives and sales/marketing teams.
The week-long event also featured the presentation of the Independent Distribution Division Laboratory Awards (IDD), led by IDD president Bob Colucci at the IDD Awards Banquet. IcareLabs was named Essilor IDD Lab of the Year.
—E.M.
Essilor NSM Key Trends
Essilor of America (EOA) also made some exciting announcements at its National Sales Meeting:
1. PROTECTION: The need for protection against increasing exposure to blue light and UV was a trending topic of discussion—and EOA unveiled its Eye Protect System. The system includes Smart Blue Filter, which provides embedded protection against harmful blue-violet light with an aesthetically clear lens.
Most blue light and UV protection products are applied to the lens surface as a coating that has an obvious color. Beginning in April, Smart Blue Filter will be available in Varilux, Eyezen+, and Transitions lenses at no additional charge. (See p. 90 for more information.)
2. MATERIAL: EOA also debuted the expansion of its range of Transitions lenses in TREXA material, a new Trivex-based material that is thinner, lighter, and stronger than standard plastic.
3. GIVING BACK: In addition, Kim Schuy was named president of the Essilor Vision Foundation, where she will lead efforts to expand services in 2016 by providing more than 275,000 vision screenings and 115,000 pairs of glasses to people in need across the U.S.
Optician on a Mission
Meet the optician who designed a special frame for her daughter—and ended up meeting the unique visual needs of the Down syndrome community
Maria Dellapina shows off her unique frame design (top); Dellapina's daughter Erin at the Women in the World Awards (bottom)
maria Dellapina has experience in readjusting. She fused her compassion as a mother of a daughter with Down syndrome and her background in the optical industry to create SPECS4US, a line of frames dedicated to the facial considerations of the Down syndrome community.
And to much success. In the past year, SPECS4US sold more than 6,000 frames. Plus, at the Women in the World Texas Forum in December, Dellapina took home a Toyota Mothers of Invention award, winning a $50,000 Driving Solutions grant.
“The Women in the World—it was probably the biggest honor in my life,” says Dellapina. With the grant, she hopes to expand the frame line to include more sizes and trendier designs.
Here, we check in with this game-changing optician to discuss her winding road to success.
eb: As a former optician, how did you make sure that SPECS4US would be a better fit for the Down syndrome community?
md: I’ve been in optical since ’76. I worked the gamut, from setting up super stores and working in private practice to working as an optical trainer for Pearle Vision. I could tell when I started to fit my daughter with frames that nothing seemed to be sitting properly on her face due to the lower bridge and the ear-setting placements.
I would search through Frames Data and all the catalogues that we had looking for a frame that seemed to have a lower placement in the bridge, thinking that might solve most of her problems. But I would keep getting frustrated because I would order in frames, try them on her, and none of them seemed to fit properly.
Then I sat down and started drawing it out, thinking, if we just lowered the placement of the bridge, lowered the placement of the temple, wouldn’t that make the glasses sit up better? Then they’re not always sliding off the nose, and they’re actually viewing through the optical center of the glasses, which is the purpose of the lens.
eb: How did your daughter Erin first react to the frames?
md: When she was wearing the old glasses, she didn’t want to wear them because they would always fall off. She would hide them at school all of the time. When she got the new pair, they just kind of sat there.
I think because of the proper fit and balance on the face, [the SPECS4US glasses] weren’t bothersome to her. I’m refitting a lot of the adult community that gave up wearing [glasses] years ago because they weren’t comfortable. Plus, if the wearers are not properly looking through the optical center of the glasses, they could be getting headaches from prismatic effect.
eb: What has been the biggest business challenge as the company has expanded?
md: The frames actually arrived in 2008. It took me four years to get somebody to listen to my design. The hardest part of the business so far is making everybody aware of them. It’s a very small company. There isn’t a marketing budget for big commercials or big mailings. We do a lot of word-of-mouth with parents.
eb: What has been your most rewarding experience with SPECS4US?
md: I think it’s the daily pats on the back from parents who are happy that their children are finally wearing glasses. I’ve had a couple optometrists and ophthalmologists who have children with Down syndrome themselves say, ‘Wow, why didn’t I think of that? This is wonderful.’ I get daily emails, phone calls, and even letters in the mail. I’ve gotten cards written out from kids saying, ‘Thank you for my glasses.’
—Kerri Ann Raimo
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