Rhode Island School of Design’ student from Virginia and friend of us, Daniel Morgan, won the third place with his concept MAGO: an innovative magnetic hinge, anchored in both the front and in the temples, making the glasses almost unbreakable. Morgan designed MAGO for all those active people, looking for a stylish pair of glasses.

With the magnetic connection, the temples can be removed from the front just as easily as they can be connected to each other again. What was convincing from a technical point of view was not only that the strength of the magnets was exactly balanced, but also that Morgan used the rapid prototyping method beforehand. The result: a bright red, fully functional pair of glasses that the jury could hardly keep their hands off. The front and the temples are 3D printed.

Our Onega Astaltsova had an honor to attended the first National Awards Ceremony“Golden Lorgnette” for Russian Optical Industry, holded in Moscow on February 17, 2015 as a guest judge. The event took place at 16th Moscow International Optical Fair (MIOF).

The event in 9 categories is designed to recognize the most important  individuals and companies in the optical industry for providing excellent service, fostering innovation and spreading awareness of the optical industry. Among nominations were: debut in Russian market and new best product of the year, best marketing project and campaign in wholesale and retail, best local optical chain and independent optical store, innovation, person of the year. The guests of the evening were treated with a concert of finalists of TV show “Golos”, which equivalent to USA show “VOICE”.

His latest innovation is eyewear made of genuine stone like granite, slate and pearl schist. He has two lines using thin stone cuts, “Stratus” and “Petrus”. “Stratus” uses a combination of stone, steel and leather. “Pertus” frames have a stone front and stone temples. The the material is so thin that it actually bends.  Again, de Staël used a metal skeleton to provide support while minimizing weight.

Fascinated by this unparalleled ingenuity, we visited de Staël’s studio-factory in Paris to see the manufacturing process for ourselves.  The site is as innovative as the eyewear it produces.  The two-story glass building nestled between two typical city buildings is light, spacious and well-organized.  Inside are machinery and tools created by de Staël and his team.  They have to create their own because no other technology can manipulate the natural frame materials in this unique way or produce such meticulous results.  For example, the layers of the frame have to line up with a minuscule 0.05 mm tolerance.

For the first time in eyeglass history, the exhibition “Spectacles Fit for a Doge”, which took place in Venice, gathered together spectacles from museums and private collections to trace a part of the history of eyeglasses and sunglasses.

Venetian opticians, 120 years before the rest of the world discovered  the danger of ultra-violet rays, produced emerald green color glass to create sunglasses that totally stopped these rays. During the 18th century in Venice, the nobility and Commanders da Mar (of the sea) wore sunglasses to protect their eyes from the glare of reflected light while navigating the waters of the lagoon or the open sea.

Considering the good number of seventeenth-century eyeglasses now held in museums and private collections, we can say that the manufacturing of colored glass for protective purposes was widely practiced from the second half of the seventeenth century on. Knowledge about the composition and diffusion of light was still in its infancy, and it was not till the end of the 17th century that Isaac Newton (1642-1727) demonstrated that white light was made up of all the other colors. A few years later, the discovery of ultraviolet light (UV) took place in 1801, still several decades before its dangerous properties were finally recognized in 1870.

Green was the most commonly used color, which was produced in various shades: yellow-green, meadow-green, sea green and emerald green. Made in furnaces on Murano, this unmistakable glass allows us today to distinguish between factory-made goods and those made by Venetian opticians in the past.

In the 20th century, green lenses were formulated to create G15, which were first used to reduce the amount of glare and increase comfort for pilots. G15 meant that there was only  15% of light transmission through the lens while it blocked UV reds and UVB rays. It wasn’t long before the popularity of this color spread from pilots to anyone with an outdoor lifestyle. We have taken into consideration the history of this color while designing our own line of eyewear.

Such is the case with the couple floating above the landscape in Chagall’s painting “The Love Story” (or “Over the Town” is another name), which is the inspiration for our latest display.  We confess that we took some liberties to make it our own.  With help from artist friend Ieva Liepina, from Riga, Latvia, we created a cityscape of Providence to replace the rural landscape in Chagall’s original.  Our airborne lovers look a lot like his, but we gave them modern clothes, while keeping the flowing lines and romantic style of the original – after all, they are lovers.  Of course, there had to be eyeglasses involved, but we were very restrained.  We chose round American Optical sunglasses for our male lover because of their timeless, classic appeal.  Since we have the luxury of working in 3 dimensions, we echoed the clouds in the sky behind the lovers with fluffy puffs suspended over our lovers.

It’s sometimes hard to believe spring is here with these cold temperatures and the continuing threat of snow, but we are oh, so ready to put winter behind us.  Spring is a time of renewal, and as new life springs up from the earth, we start to feel new possibilities. Belgian surrealist painter Rene Magritte (1898-1967) challenged people to let go of assumptions and consider not what is, but what could be.  His paintings, some of which are currently on display in a special exhibition at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, depict ordinary objects and normal people arranged in ways that seem impossible.  But are they?  Maybe Magritte is really telling us to rethink what is possible.

Inspired by the MOMA exhibition, we’ve created a new window display that we think Magritte would approve of.  It features a sky backdrop found in many of Magritte’s paintings and men in the Magritte style – complete with suit, period dress shoes and bowler hat.  We chose Arnold Schwarzenegger’s visage as the face of the men.  In a twist reminiscent of Magritte’s style, we pulled apart the pieces of the men and put them near each other, but not quite together.  What does it symbolize?  Well, that’s in the eye of the beholder.  Surrealism is all about what the image means to you.

Launched in 1997, the Lunetiers du Jura International Eyewear Design Competition is an incubator of creativity. Constantly searching for new identities and innovative ideas for their eyewear, the French Association of Jura Eyewear Manufacturers has made this competition the birthplace for frames of tomorrow.
The theme of 2013 competition: «1-100 ans », eyewear for babies and elderly people. This year, 221 projects were examined, 15 projects were selected, and finally 3 projects were awarded! Projects were prototyped by eyewear manufacturers. The 2 winning designs are by Edouard FABRE, Mathieu BRIAND & Nicolas PATRIX from ENSAD – Paris, for the frame “MIRETTES” and Marine DAVAINE from ESAD – Reims for “PRESBYS”.

Over four days from July 4 to July 7, Reenactment will take place in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Soldier and civilian re-enactors will re-create an event the 1860s through battles encampments and demonstrations. Visitors can get an up-close look at cavalry, artillery and the lives that soldiers led during the Civil War. Re-enactment organizers are expecting 15,000 re-enactors, thousands more civilian interpreters, 400 horses and 100 cannons.

The basic eyewear styles from 1835 to 1870 did not change significantly.

Three lens shapes made up the overwhelming preponderance of spectacle frames during this period:

1. Oval shaped spectacles.
   
2. Oblong shaped spectacles.
3. Octagon shaped spectacles

Common Spectacle Temples on American-made Spectacle Frames 1830 – 1870 are Sliding temples. It allowed to extend them for dual use: from short for use under wigs to longer for use at the ears.

Replica of historic eyewear is available at PO in 3 mentioned above shapes in plating color variation. 

Frames are on sale till July 4th, 2013 $127.