Atelier Vingt Deux

I have just discovered this brand on the Harvey Nichols website;

Atelier Vingt-Deux (AVD) are a brand that class themselves at the top of luxury eyewear. 

'the dedication and the skills to combine the best materials with innovative technologies to deliver outstanding EyeTech Art' 

A statement taken from their website. 

The brand is founded on the principles of precision, excellence and performance. They believe they produce revolutionary products which are made from complex materials. The use of diamonds are mentioned on their website, though none of the designs show them.

I think the designs are very elementary considering their price range of over £900. I understand they use titanium throughout their collections, though Linda Farrow do not charge such an extortionate price for the increasingly rare material. 

Veronika Wildgruber

The name alone.. i think is brilliant.

However, this is the logo, and even though i think it is beautifully simple, it is very very similar to the brand in the post below; Vava eyewear.

 I love these frames, they're so elegant and classic, with a slightly edgy element added to make them completely unique to all other brands.

Cubitts

I first heard of Cubitts on the work email, describing their layout and the presentation of the store.  As previously explained to me, Linda Farrow usually do not see themselves as competition to the any other eyewear brands currently on the market; however this store must've made them stop to look.

This image is taken from their website, which can be found here.

The company is not far from Carnaby Street, London, and i cant wait to visit them. From there I shall hope to do a much larger report on the brand and my thoughts on the store.

The Learning Agreement

Elizabeth P Jacques

Learning Agreement

For the Industrial Experience unit, I shall be interning for 12 weeks at the luxury eyewear company; Linda Farrow (LF), based in Central London. During this period I will be working amongst the design team with my supervisor; Lucy Rowland, Head of Design. The company has given me an idea of the tasks that I shall be doing during my stay:

·  Assisting the design team with CAD drawings

·  Organization of samples

·  Research

·  Preparing packages

·  General admin

In order for this to be done successfully, LF have arranged for a training programme that will enhance my skills and make myself more useful within the office team. I would like to understand the roles in which all the employers take within the business, in order to understand where I would like to head with my own career. I would like to challenge my perceptions of the roles I have previously undoubtedly wanted to undertake such as designing and product development.

Alongside the work placement, I would like to achieve a better understanding of the fashion eyewear industry. There is a huge industry that is parallel to this sector being spectacles based purely on functional design, however I like to focus on the more fashionable side, where collections are made and collaborated with high fashion labels. I feel this is more relevant to my previous work, where inspiration is made and collated into a sculptural form. I shall visit more eyewear stores around the British capital, understanding current trends and where the market is heading.

I would like to see how eyewear can be handmade, what is involved and what distinguishes it between the machine-made products. I would like to see if there are any produced within the UK and visit the factories, to create a better understanding of the processes. I would like to visit the different ends of the spectrum; Luxottica; the huge machine produced eyewear for the mega-brands, and then to look at more handmade products that show extravagance and true indulgence; Linda Farrow, then to see brands which tailor-make the eyewear to the customer; Barrow& Flux.

By the end of this placement, I would like to know if this is an industry where I feel I can contribute to and would be happy working within.

VAVA

Vava is a very futuristic eyewear company based between Berlin and Portugal. They have a very recognisable and alien look. 

"The future is simplicity, cleanness and purity. The future is darkness, decay and underground. "
This statement is repeated throughout the brand and is their inspiration point behind every collection.

The eyewear is eco-friendly and 100% recyclable by using a cellulose based acetate, using cotton and wood pulp fibres. The frames are all handmade within a small family owned italian manufacturers, where the company escapes mass production and is able to control quality.
The company only uses entirely flat lenses, these are also 'Crystal Lenses' which only use the purest of glass to provide precise vision. This is an element that many eyewear companies do not provide; glass lenses and have recently resorted to acrylic.
The shapes of the frames are geometric and have a small range of colours; white, grey and black. Their range of eyewear is relatively small and prove that the company is still very young. 

 Find and discover more about this brand here.

17Days Into The Placement

The last 3 and a bit weeks have been a test. A real test to want to continue this placement. I feel very alone and disappointed that the industry is like this; v v dull, uncreative and full of uninspired people that truly live up to the 'fashionista' stereotype. my mother joked that from what she heard from me about it, it sound very similar to the film 'Devil wears Prada', thinking about it... yes it is.
i wish i could join their meetings. i wish they saw me as more than the intern that shall leave soon. I wish the work was more strenuous. i wish i could be learning more. i love the London life, that's whats not making me want to go back to Bournemouth. I love the simplicity, i love my cousins flat. i love the potential of what i could be learning and achieving instead of drawing and colouring in.

I found it difficult to find positive things to write on this blog, hence the lack of content.

It has been 17 days.
Only 45 left.

However nothing happens without a bit of hard work.

Linda Farrow X Yazbukey

One of Linda Farrows most exciting collaborative brands is a Paris based company called Yazbukey. They have some very colourful and extraordinary accessories and Linda farrow have a great time designing and producing their eyewear. A recently very popular piece: the 'C'est ahh...'  Glasses (quite simply a pair of lips in either red or pink, as shown below) in their S/S 15 collection has been worn in many shoots and by many celebrities.

Discover their Linda Farrow collection here and explore their unique style here.