3D printing for glasses: Colors of Birch brings first-of-their-kind shapes to eyewear

EXCLUSIVE

*Clears throat* Everybody, can I have your attention please?! Take a look at these frames. Welcome Colors of Birch to the world of eyewear.

And what a brave new world it becomes. Pekka Salokannel, a Finnish designer has come up with his first eyewear collection: Titanic. This is, I think, the first professional 3D-printedeyewear collection, a truly seminal moment.

3D printing is a manufacturing technology where an object is created by laying down successive layers of material, in this case Nylon. The collection comprises five and half frames (including one monocle!), designed in Finland and made in the Netherlands.

Obviously the temples are amazing, but those hinges are pretty exciting too, are they not? Forget those things you wear to the cinema; this is 3D eyewear!

Colors of Birch is launched on 3 October at the Finnoir exhibition in Paris. Hope to bring you more images soon.

Hard to fault Kilsgaard: 2011/12 glasses campaign

Haven't featured Kilsgaard for a while. As demonstrated above, massively stylish; and below, clever too!
No nonsense website too: "No bullshit – just passion and aluminum".

Kelis in gold and black Chanel sunglasses at London Fashion Week

Photo: Jill Carin Adams, StreetStyle London

Kelis wore these Wayfarer-like sunnies last weekend at London Fashion Week, but who are they by? With thanks to Jill at StreetStyle London for the image and for her great LFW coverage!

UPDATE – 2 Oct 2011
Thanks to everyone who suggested who these were by. Julia at Gogosha Optique in LA came up trumps with Chanel. I should coco!

More Silmo d'Or: Lyz glasses by Vue DC

This frame, like yesterday's Silmo d'Or nomination, is almost Daliesque too. Lyz from Vue DC

Face á Face creates glasses based on Mae West's lips

Another Silmo d'Or nomination, this time for Face á Face. Inspired by Salvador Dali's Mae West lips sofa, these Senso sunglasses come in red or black. Genius!

Silmo d'Or: Rialto by LA Eyeworks

So here's the first of numerous posts on eyewear that's nominated for the Silmo d'Or awards in Paris next Thursday night. First up is Rialto in red velvet fuchsia by LA Eyeworks.

Ron Arad to launch glasses collection: PQ Eyewear sneak preview

Having owned a Ron Arad Bookworm for the past decade, the prospect of the industrial designer/architect shaking up spectacle style is hugely exciting.

So to learn from my pals at The Optician that Arad is not only releasing a range of glasses next week, but that they will go under the brilliant name PQ Eyewear (follow link, take a look at the logo and then say it to yourself ), has made my day.

"When we embarked on designing PQ Eyewear, it was clear that there is so much to do in the field. This is just the beginning," states boldly the pre-launch website.

Read more about the launch and these designs on Optician Online and look out for more on the Ron Arad when we get back from Paris.

Introducing Shauns Shades: buy one, give sight

These classy sunglasses are by a new brand, Shauns Shades, which has a generous business model  whereby for every pair purchased, one of the 285 million people in the world with sight problems will receive a pair of glasses, as part of its “buy one, give sight” mission.

California-based Scottish designer Shaun Paterson explains: "My vision has never caused me any issue in any way. Like many others, I use a simple lens to correct for my natural vision problems. However, if like many millions of those in need, I had been born in an area with no access to eye health care and glasses, I would be legally blind."

Note the signature Braille "S" on the frame front. The shades feature Carl Zeiss lenses and are available with free shipping in the US and the UK. Price start at £115 or $160.

Beam me up Kirk: colourful acrylic glasses for 2012

Wow! Look at the colour on these fantastic glasses from Kirk Originals. The new Beam and Sunbeam collections for 2012 are being launched at Silmo, the big eyewear show in Paris next week.

These specs look amazing; but technically they're brilliant too. They're made of acrylic. Kirk Originals has been working on these for more than a decade and while the UK designer has been using acrylic for a while now in the temples, this is the first time it's made the front of this material too.

Note the lack of any metal wire in the temple and the fantastic polish on the acrylic. Looking forward to trying a few of these on next week!

RRP: €420

McClintock party time: Rock Optika launch in Covent Garden

McClintock Eyewear in Covent Garden, London, is famed not only for its superior collection of handmade glasses, but also for its parties. We've frequently turned up for our fill of glasses – of wine and of the spectacular.

McClintock last week hosted the official launch of the wonderful Rock Optika collection, as made by Tom Herrington and previewed here last month, so here are few pictures from the night...

Opening picture: Rock Optika's Key Largo. Above Bertie wears a bespoke frame made by McClintock. And below are a collection of pictures taken by Julian Cox, who's rather handy with the iPhone camera, and a few by EWG.

To get more of an idea of the lovely frames in stock in McClintock, have a look here. Finally, Dr Savage performs a poem...

Brian McGinn in his own creation. Photo: Julian Cox	Séamus McClintock in Kilsgaard. Photo: Julian Cox
Dr Savage in Rock Optika. Photo: Julian Cox	Funk Eyewear. Photo: Julian Cox
Tom Herrington in his own Rock Optika. Photo: Julian Cox	Eyewear designer Lawrence Jenkin in vintage 1980s Anglo American Optical. Photo: EWG
Hydron in Funk. Photo: EWG	Sophia in Kirk Originals. Photo: EWG

Emmanuelle Khanh vintage sunnies on La Brae Street, LA

Stylist Amelian Kashiro Hamilton wears big, bold, chunky, vintage Emmanuelle Khanh cat's eye sunglasses- with thanks again to HiStyley.

Jai Kudo launches Podium glasses collection

Podium Eyewear, new from Jai Kudo, has come up with some great frame names, perfect for the styles featured. Top to bottom are Alice, Addison, Pandora and Sebastian, Audrey and Addison, and finally Tiffany. As always you can hover over pictures for the caption.

Vintage André Courrèges white Eskimo shades: 1960s space age fashion

HiStyley has been providing occasional images for Eye Wear Glasses for a while now but the LA streetstyle site has surpassed itself this time.

Above is a picture from Melrose Street featuring what appear to be a pair of 1965 André Courrèges white Eskimo shades - Courrèges4 to be exact.

Inspired by Inuit snow goggles, Courrèges' shades, made in France, are extremely sought after.

Right, an image from Courrèges' 1965 spring-summer collection and below a pair from the M Vintage Sunglasses Collection. Indeed M is selling this pair. With thanks to HiStyley and M for the images.

Who makes these glasses as worn by Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis?

Rather fittingly, following yesterday's stone glasses, we have received a query from James asking if I know who makes these crystal spectacles, worn here by J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr fame.

We're not sure but wondered if anyone out there might be able to supply the answer...

Left, have a listen to Not Enough by J Mascis.

Stone the crow's eyes: Rolf Spectacles in an another eyewear first

Having deservedly won numerous awards for its great wooden frames, Austrian glasses specialist Rolf Spectacles has created another first in the run-up to Silmo, the year's big optical show in Paris in three weeks... Glasses made from stone!

"The material stone with its strong structure brings a new surface into the optical industry. With the combination of the light material wood the frame provides a high wearing comfort," says Rolf in a pre-Silmo statement.

Definitely a highlight of the year - I look forward to trying a pair out!

In a nod perhaps to the Flintstones, the frame is called Dino.

Cantao Eyewear from Brazil – Fall 2011

Cantao Eyewear thanks to OVR...

CW Dixey launches Chartwell glasses collection including frames worn by Sir Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill with Franklin D Roosevelt, Casablanca, 1943. Photo courtesy of the Franklin D Roosevelt Library and Museum; version date 2009

CW Dixey & Son is the oldest independent eyewear company in the world. Its history straddles four centuries and its frames have been worn by an A-list unlike any other.

The current owners of CW Dixey have spent the past couple of years creating the above collection, the centrepiece of which is Chartwell 01, replicas of the round glasses worn by Churchill. These are directly above, and at the top on the red background, alongside Chartwell 02, which is a remake of Churchill's reading glasses. Both frames are handmade in France from original dimensions, using the best Mazzuchelli acetates in light and dark tortoiseshell and black. There are then seven other limited edition frames (Chartwell 03 and 07 are featured above) in the collection which bring together sophisticated designs of the 50s and 60s to the modern day. So hats off to CW Dixey & Son - it's created a great new collection. But if there wasn't the back-story, the distinguished patrons, the coat of arms, the amazing history, this collection would still stand out as being extremely well made. I've had all nine styles in my hands and they're tip top quality. Worth every penny of the £380+ price tag. Oh, one more thing: the spectacle cases are pretty fine too!

HISTORY & PATRONS Forget Lady Gaga, Rihanna and the rest of the paparazzi's targets of today; how about Sir Winston Churchill for a little endorsement? Impressed? Then read on, because CW Dixey has the most astonishing list of customers I've ever come across.  As well as Churchill, there are no fewer than 10 other British prime ministers, including: Harold Macmillan, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Ramsay MacDonald and the Duke of Wellington. Who else? How about Queen Victoria? Yes, alongside Prince Albert , George VI, V, IV and III. I could go on. Okay, a few more: Ian Fleming, Peter Sellers, Tennessee Williams, Boris Karloff .... the list is endless. Did I mention Napoleon Bonaparte? He had a telescope rather than spectacles but that's what Dixey did too. It was "Optician and Mathematical Instrument Maker". CW Dixey had premises at 3 Bond Street, London, below, which was sadly bombed in World War II.

Isson Eyewear 2012: pets allowed

Australian eyewear designer Isson has again demonstrated its ability to create truly original designs with this Bauhaus-inspired sunglass collection for 2012.

We loved Betsy for SS2011, but this range is simply beautiful - very exciting.

Early days but the frame Martha is already teacher's pet for the new school year, particularly in green pearl, left with the guinea pigs.

Also shown is Ludwig in black matte with the cat, and Gunta in caramel sundae, with the pug...