Thursday, November 30, 2006

Orgreen Crusader



Xiao wears her new Crusader in Purple Blue and Lilac. Did I mention this frame is a boy magnet?

WHO IS YOUR ONKEL?



"Stefan Petersen, der Saarbrücker Brillenerfinder, geb. 1966 arbeitet in einer ehemaligen Schlachterei. In diesem kühlen Ambiente entstehen nach seiner Philosophie Brillenim Einklang von Form, Proportion und Material. Kleine konstruktive Elemente fügen sich zu dem besonderen Ganzen. In seinem Stil verbindet sich Avantgarde und Klassik."

To translate this paragraph losely, Stefan Petersen, designer behind the ONKEL eyewear brand, subscribes to philosophy of Form, Proportion and Material. As a result, when all the small elements come together as a whole, combining Avant-Garde and Classic styles, the final format is ONKEL eyewear.


So, yeah!! We have the Onkels here!! Yeah baby, after only a few months of waiting, we have finally received the first batch of new and much awaited Onkel frames. Thank you Stanley for stepping in and fighting off the nosy FDA agents demanding mysterious "medical device listing" number. What the heck? It's a pair of eyeglasses, for crying out loud, collect the duty and let them through, they need a good home!

Anyway, these cool frames are in and on display. Come try it on and bring your Rx, 'cause chances are you will fall in love with one of these.






Friday, November 24, 2006

New and old MYKITA back in stock



Lots of current styles and colors are back in stock.



Styles like Sadeck and Clark in Black and Blackberry, new Robin sunglasses, along with LIz, Selma and Rocco. The mighty Rolf shades are back in Silveline and Pearl, along with popular Hanna in Black.


Saturday, November 18, 2006

Matteo




Matteo, cool local guy who works with youth, wears his new MYKITA Curtis in Blackberry.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Electro Glamour from Orgreen

Amazing new color from Orgreen is finally coming to US!

When I met Henrik Orgreen in New York this March, he mentioned they were working on a new Iridescent color for Orgreen's Airline collection. At the time, fingerprints were an issue, but Henrik promised the problem to be solved shortly and here we are.
When we finally saw the new frames from this Limited Edition Electro Glamour collection at Silmo in Paris, we were floored! The colors are revolutionary and...crazy cool!






As you wear the frame and move your head, the color changes from warm Metallic Gold to hot Mars desert Red and then to Chromatic Green with Electric Blue tones, creating an amazing color effect.


Nothing else like this exists in eyewear today and these frames are destined to become design icons. All thanks to Orgreen's drive and desire to bring the hottest new technology into eyewear.

Electro Glamour truly is a Limited Edition and only few styles are available in this finish. Mandrake, Vulcan and Hercules for men, and Hellcat and Catalina for women. Both womens styles will be also available in Purple/Pink Electro Glamour and Shiny Blue/Turquoise Electro Glamour. Given the way people can't get enough of regular Orgreen colors, I suggest you come in and preorder one of these today. Be the first!!!! Well...maybe second.

I am Electro Glamour.




Electro Glamour frames are priced at $595.00 USD.


In the meantime, for girls who want a head-turning, show stopping pair of frames, check out Orgreen's Pussycat frame - 3 colors back in stock: Black/Pink, Green/Heather and Red/Black.

Orgreen Airline Collection frames are priced at $465.00 USD.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

spectaclesforhumans

New MYKITA suns!

MYKITA team introduces two new sunglass styles.


HUGO, shown here in Pearl with Green gradient lenses.


ROBIN, entirely new shape, shown here in a new color, Purple with Purple gradient lenses. The shape is actually quite nice and can be easily worn as an ophthalmic. One of the MYKITA girls at the show wore it and it looked hot!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

MEYER EYEWEAR

New publicity photos from Meyer. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So here they are, new styles in all their glory.

KIRUNA
in Grey with Reindeer temples

OSLO in Red.

BERLIN in Brown.

KUNGSBACKA in Black with Reindeer temples.

KOLN in Brown.

Thursday, November 9, 2006

For our little customers...


We are adding a special selection of frames for children from Lafont Lunettes in the next couple of weeks. So if you have that special small person in your life and they need glasses, bring them in and we'll help them find the cuttest pair of great colorful frames.




Satisfaction (and candy) guaranteed.

Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Orgreen Optics Trunk Show date set

Saturday, December 16th - come see all Orgreen Optics have to offer. All styles, in all colors, one day only!



Sunday, November 5, 2006

Vibskov is HUUUUGE in Denmark!


A young couple traveling from Denmark just popped in after they saw Vibskov's Andy sunglasses in the window. Yeap, that's the word on the streets of Copenhagen - Vibskov is the hottest thing right now. To say the least, they were stunned to see his designs here in San Francisco.

Saturday, November 4, 2006

Silmo 2006: part deux.





Marco Salgado's frames were pretty interesting and we liked his idea of using computer components as an inspiration, but the frames were so heavy, we just could not commit. I was actually quite surprised to hear the frames were made in China, to be frank. When I asked where they were made, Marco said "Asia". "Japan?", I inquired with hope. Nope, the other "Asia". That's just unacceptable and not something I expected to hear about the product under the Mikli umbrella. And I know companies try to convince us there is no difference...Trust me, there is, and besides, you don't want that heavy stuff on your face. No matter what they say, "Made in China" and true luxury... it just does not mix.

Allison Magee's much hyped "bubble" was another disappointment and a more than average experience with little substance. Her styles weren't at all exciting and the "patented" hinges seemed unnecessary and, on top of it, did not even function well.

On the bright side, and right around the corner from Mikli Studio, we met up with our good buddies from Reiz Augenspiel and Onkel.



I am not gonna talk about the new Onkel styles just yet. Lets wait a little; they will be here shortly.

The new releases from Reiz are a different story. This new ophthalmic collection is based on Reiz Limited Edition sunglasses collection which was introduced earlier this year. And lemme tell you, these are not your ordinary specs. The frames are made from spectacular 12mm!! thick acetate and look and feel like sculptures, not eyeglasses. These are hand-drawn models, as designer believes computer programs do not take into a account facial variations of human face. They are true works of art, IMO, and everything from subtle colors to classic shapes speaks volumes about designer's vision and his commitment to bring highest possible quality to consumers. What a marvelous line! We've ordered quite a few pieces and expect to see the new collection here in February.

Another cool line we are adding this time around is Alek Paul eyewear (sorry, no pics), designed by Alessandro Martire. Mainly acetate, Alek Paul is entirely hand-made in Italy from famed Mazzucchelli zyl. Here, we see extreme attention to detail, with every frame going through more than 100 processing stages, most of which are carried out manually. We have been looking to add an Italian line of plastics for some time now and I think we found what we wanted - clean lines, generous shapes and sophisticated colors.


Check out ALEK PAUL website for now.






And last but not least. It was great to finally meet Xavier Derome and Aurelia Brenner last week! The guys are great and have lots of new stuff which we'll be getting early next year.




We were actually so preoccupied with their cool designs I completely forgot to snap more pics of new styles. Not to worry, it will be here soon.

Friday, November 3, 2006

New MEYER styles arrive!


Yes, we finally have few new and most of the sold out styles back in stock. In addition, we have received 9 frames with Reindeer horn temples (stunning!) and one new set of Buffalo horn temples (beautiful!). Let me just refresh the page and remind you that Reindeer horn is a 100% natural material. It is admired for its unique beauty throughout Scandinavia and used widely in crafts. Animals are not harmed in any way, since they shed their horns right around this time each year. Those are then collected by specially trained scouts and sorted for size. The process is extremely time consuming and we have been waiting for this batch for 6 and a half months, and already, given we sold two sets within 3 hours of their arrival, I am thinking it would be wise to order more RIGHT NOW!

Gorgeous, aren't they?



Meyer New York in titanium with Reindeer temples.


Reindeer temple detail.

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

We are back from Paris!

We had a blast in France, but it's nice to be back in good old San Fran! All the schmoozing, all that late night partying with wild and crazy Euros had its toll. Let me tell you, these guys take nightlife seriously and they don't leave until the dance floor is all torn up. Lucky for us, we were able to leave a few days earlier and that gave us a chance to chill a little in Champagne region.

Seriously though, we partied hard, but we worked even harder.
Paris shows are always massive, but this one felt bigger than anything I've tackled before. With about 1,000 companies showing their goods this year, I think I lost about 10 lbs navigating the Silmo's gargantuan halls.
Take a look at the size of the Main Hall. This one alone needed a week.



Anyway friends, I am not going to be writing a novel here, as I have more work at the shop than I can shake a stick at, but I promise, I will add more details later and as we go. The frames should start arriving in about a month and so for now, I give you a quick pictorial, complete with personal highlights of the show and brief descriptions.

It doesn't look like I'm going to France, does it now?





Hanging out at Orgreen's place.



New styles are ultra fresh and will be here SOON!



Trying Orgreen frames... the right way.



Olga and our man at Orgreen, Rene.


Sarah is wearing one of Orgreen new styles.



Thomas and Charlotta Meyer.


Newest addition to Meyer line up of luxury materials - Holz. I know, I know, we call it wood...but sounds so noble in German.




More awesome wood frames. This one is from M.A.D.E., a company created by a couple of design obsessed Danes. Please don't ask me to repeat native names of the types of wood they use for their frames...poplinka? We ordered several (best) shapes in really cool colors and they should be here early next month.


MYKITA booth.

No pics were allowed inside - we were looking at prototypes and there were too many industry spies around.
When we saw these new plastics, we immediately bought almost everything (out of this world!) and (good news!) we shall be getting them sometime in January, way before they are even shown to US customers next Spring in New York.
I wish I had pics to share though. The colors, I haven't seen anything like this before. These amazing, solid colors in earthy tones are set to replace the current trend of over-indulging in bright cutesy colors.


Anthony Meima's acetate frames. Simple, elegant, stylish and what quality! All entirely hand made. Once again, we will be the first to bring it to SF...


.... as soon as next month!



More French design genius at work - Jen Mood's multi-functional eyewear accessories - chain, belt and necklace....all in one.



But hey, not all of it was work! We are nuts about cool eyeglasses, but we are not crazy to miss out on what France has to offer.
So here are few pictures from our short detour to Champagne before the show.