DANDY’S
This story begins in 1974, when TV was only watched in black-and-white.
Back then the “occhialari” apprentices were taught to make glasses totally by hand.
Using ancient tools to refine, to retouch and to finish, to align perfectly, to mount the hinges with shot peened rivets, to define the fit. Temples were smoothened with the scraper to remove the edges and tons of wheels were used to polish the frames for the best shiny finishing.
What a huge but great job it was; and in the evening, at the end of the long day, we were proud of what we accomplished and learned, cause we put a piece of ourselves into those frames. Once you have learned to work by hand, the work was focused to the pantographs for the cutting and shaping of the fronts, and eventually to the hinge machines to make the temples and to the other machinery necessary to bend nose pads. On Saturday morning, those apprentices with great passion for this work would come to the factory to experiment different techniques and tools.
Those were intense years where we invented and improved all kinds of processing’s, continuously. Acetate gives great pleasure and is easy be worked, glued, retouched, molded, manipulatedI still remember and I can picture in my mind that time of my life where passion for work was greater than passion for the pure business.
Shortly after that a whole series of new technologies, electronics equipment, numerical control CNC centers took place to ease and increase productivity. Physical fatigue has indeed vanished.
All different steps or manufacturing are now standardized, flattened. Same milling to make a variety of shapes. Everything is produced with speeded up automation, the time to produce a pair of glasses is drastically reduced. The frames are polished by paint; the silkiness of the natural acetate disappears.
Dandy´s collection is born from passion and expertise that we gained in over 35 years of work; is born from the will to make frames and glasses in a serene and pleasant wayome models require up to 5 minutes of hand brush.
In this case you can´t rush: you have to polish with sensitivity, caressing the frame with the scraper. The combination temple/front must be retouched with wisdom. Many hours are necessary to reach the best result: up to 90-100 in the tumbler, depending on the shape. Lots of great wheel, soft cloth, to make the glasses shiny at their best. Then again, a few very peculiar processes are performed using the laser. Opaque effects are obtained at best with this tool, as well as that matte ice-kind effect. Permanent writing are also obtained by laser; while the anti-slip knurls on temple tips are done by hot stamp.
All components come from our own district, and materials are exclusively made in Italy. The recycled leather case we chose stands as the best example, proving our products’ certified and guaranteed traceability. I would love that our customers who have chosen Dandy´s would sense the same passion and serenity I myself feel when I work with them, improving every detail to make comfortable and fine-designed frames, a pair of glasses that will last in time following their wearers’.
NORTHERN LIGHTS
An Exploration in Eyewear Design
Designed in British Columbia’s coast mountains, luxury eyewear brand Northern Lights Optic channels the intrepid spirit of early alpine explorers. Handcrafted from the highest quality materials, the unisex collection reframes heritage silhouettes for modern wear, as reflected in the design of its signature mountaineering glasses.
PORTRAIT EYEWEAR
PORTRAIT Eyewear was born from the genuine desire of two half-Venezuelan/ Spanish siblings of preserving the traditional quality of Italian handcrafting, channeling such a precious resource through contemporary-eyewear design research and following the principles of a sustainable and socially responsible business.
Run by a brother & sister team, PORTRAIT Eyewear supports small luxury eyewear enterprises.
Our product is entirely handmade by genuine artisans who combine traditional craftsmanship with high-technology manufacture, pursuing the highest quality standards. Its production process, in all its steps, adheres to environmentally-friendly and sustainable practices. All of our suppliers have an energy-efficient philosophy and guarantee a slave-free workplace.
Optical glasses and sunglasses are the result of a deep design research and experimentation, strongly influenced by art-history movements and dedicated to its most iconic figures. Coherently with the project’s art soul, the communication is based on the promotion of emerging artists in a fair cooperation that co-endorses both players, the brand and its fascinating testimonials.
FAKBYFAK
FAKBYFAK is not just a brand. FAKBYFAK is a new name of FAKOSHIMA eyewear brand established in 2013 in Moscow. This is the first Russian brand of conceptual sunglasses and optical eyewear that became an event in the world of fashion. Brand is now recognised in optical industry as the principal trend of the last decade. Accelerated growth, acclaim and recognition came in 2015 following the SILMO world optical fair in Paris. The brand became noted by global fashion press, celebrities and buyers. In 2016 the brand presented overwhelming collaboration projects with fashion designer Manish Arora and avant-garde Belgian designer Walter van Beirendonck. In mid 2016 the founders relaunched the brand and renamed it. Behind the backdrop of the brand rebirth there was the strong, extraordinary, vital and fundamental desire to keep breaking the cliches, stereotypes and borders that rule the world in general and the current fashion industry specifically.
SPECTACULARS
Before the 1930’s spectacle frames were literally only a mounting device for lenses, with no thought of fashion. Circa 1934 in New York, while working as a display designer, Altina Schinasi imagined spectacles for women. After many drawings and concepts Altina introduced her invention to the world. Not only did she invent the cateye; but this was the first time men’s and women’s spectacles were categorized. Thus, the birth of american fashion eyewear.
Until the late 1970’s American eyewear manufacturers produced most of the world’s production demands, but due to outsourcing for cheap labor production moved to various places around the globe. The focus shifted from the quality of the product to the cost of production.
Come the present, cheap labor now has competition: automation technology. With this new technology, our American imagination, creativity and luxury know how, we can once again build a product in America that can compete anywhere globally. Using the finest materials on earth, our artisans devote their creativity, focus to detail and hand set each piece to produce quality classic to fresh fashion in pure luxury.
NINA MÛR
Independent production, high quality and sustainable materials, innovation and craftsmanship led us to create NINA.
The challenge was to offer eyewear with soul and a different approach; to create an object that goes beyond a passing trend, beyond a commercial transaction, and truly connects with the people who use it.
We joined our forces, experience and enthusiasm to embark on this adventure full of discoveries, nuances and beauty, to share with you and invite you to join our journey.
HIGHEST QUALITY – When it comes to the quality of our wooden glasses, we make no compromises. We use the best components available on the market and manufacture them with the greatest care.
BIRCH WOOD – Our birch wood derives from a reforested cultivation in Finland. Processing it further we make our own plywood which forms the essential foundation for Nina Mûr eyewear.
TECHNOLOGY & CRAFTSMANSHIP – Taking the best from each world, we implement both innovative technology and traditional craftsmanship in our manufacturing process. A new way of cutting allows us to carve our frames with the highest precision that wooden glasses have ever seen. Yet we design and finish all of our eyewear by hand, piece by piece. Only like this we can ensure that every single one of them lives up to our high standards.
CARLA COLOUR
Originally from Brisbane, Australia, 33-year old Carla Robertson moved to Montreal only four months ago. At Aldo she oversees the photo shoots, video productions and the general rolling out of the campaigns across the world. She’s a vision of retro-fied perfection. From her slick boy cut hair style, to her latest obsession “male and slightly creepy” prescription metal frames, to her crazy colorful, “borderline ugly” 80’s patterns, Carla’s style screams fun and dance. She loves Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers and anything 80’s Country & Western. “Leather tassles, coloured lace, cute gingham, rhinestones on denim, huge shoulder pads with a cinched in waist… what’s not to love?!” she laughs. Her Ipod playlist is a mix of heavy metal and 1950’s chansons. Her new boyfriend is rockabilly – her taste in men sort of comes with the territory. “An appreciation for vintage is definitely on the list of what I look for in a man. How else will he put up with all my junk?” she jokes. “Luckily my boyfriend totally gets it.” As a house warming present he bought her a glow-in-the-dark koala bear! Eight years ago, she started collecting glasses as a way of adding a cool accessory to her look. Contacts weren’t cutting it and “frames didn’t cost an arm and a leg”. In a nutshell, Carla doesn’t take life or fashion too seriously. She gets dressed according to her mood. ” I don’t really plan outfits,” she explains. “I just get up in the morning, grab what pops into my mind – maybe it’s a shoe, or new earrings or a particular top I rediscovered – and try and piece something around that. Sometimes it works, and other times it doesn’t. But that’s all part of the adventure of wearing a new concoction every day. Then some days are definitely jumpsuit days!” ( TALES OF ENDEARMENT september 2015 )
CARIN
What is “CARIN”? One answer would be, a modern Scandinavia-inspired eyewear brand reinterpreting classic femininity. However, it is more than just an image. Our strong belief is that the memory of beautiful moments in life can become the hope of one’s outlook of the future. CARIN integrates these values into the brand through a reinterpreted Scandinavian retro concept with a feminine core, symbolizing both idealistic values and a hope for the future through retained beautiful memories.
