Goldson wooden sunglasses for Autumn

A clear advantage of not feeling particularly specsy of late is that it's easier to discover, some original, inspiring eyewear, as proved here by Goldson, a specialist in handmade wooden sunglasses from industrial designer Arnaud Eubelen. Here we feature the neatly shaped Model 3, and the elegant Model 4, both carefully crafted in Liège in Belgium.

Factory 900 Retro Future: chunky frames

There's nothing like a chunky, quality Japanese acetate to awaken a sleepy glasses blog. EWG loves these from Factory900. Available as shades or specs.

Kirk & Kirk launches debut Vivarium collection

Forget glasses with plain pins in the top corners of the frame. Forget the ubiquitous lozenge shape rivet that dominates the mass market. And opt instead for an intricate fly or a horse inspired by Victorian natural history collectors .

Do so and you'll be getting your hands on the hotly anticipated debut collection from eyewear's new luxury eyewear name, Kirk & Kirk.

As a lifelong fan of Kirk Originals, my brow furrowed last summer when I discovered that the brand's founders, Jason and Karen Kirk, had left the company. Kirk Originals continues, and EWG wishes it well, but it was the launch of the Kirks' new brand, Kirk & Kirk, that was always going to excite us, hence the first post in a long while.

As with brilliant Beam collection a couple of years ago, Vivarium is made of acrylic, which makes it lighter than acetate. The frames are handmade in France while the animal jewellery pins have been crafted in England and are made of sterling silver or 9 carat gold.

Frames top to bottom: Carson, Curie and Fleming, featuring gold horse pins.

Fluo glasses for Gen Y from Theo

These are from Theo's wonderful limited edition Mille series for the braver glasses wearer. Mille means 1000 in French but it's also short for millennials, those young types – Generation Y (Z even?) – who know their way around all things digital. Six more shapes and loads more colours here...

Cheap Monday 2014: Hybris opticals

As promised a little more from the Cheap Monday Hybris collection – this time some opticals... liking that little detail at the frame's temple on the left.

Seeoo Big and the Seeoo Classic

While we remain to be convinced about any big come-back for the monocle, the pince-nez (from the French for pinch-nose) has, in our opinion, more of a future. Particularly in the format below, Classic, from Austria's Seeoo. Perfect as an occasional ready-reader, these exquisite gadgets fit in a credit-card-sized case. For the more regular glasses wearer, Big, above, pinches its styling from the pince-nez below in rather a dramatic way.

House of Flora: Red Hex Spex

We're enjoying London-based House of Flora's bold sunglass designs. Above is the wonderful Red Hex Spex as worn last year in a UK Elle photoshoot of Rihanna. Above that is the gloriously named Ping Pong and top is Basquiat. As well as eyewear, House of Flora also designs amazing hats and jewellery.

Top photo: Nick Tucker; model Illy Jay.
Second photo: Max Oppenheim; model Immy at Storm; stylist Vanessa Minshull. 

P3 panto glasses by Pierre Cariven

Handmade in the Jura region of France, this a new collection from Pierre Cariven called P3.
Made from NXP nylon, note that there is no steel reinforcement in the temples.

Matte and fat at Cheap Monday

Meet the new Hybris collection from Cheap Monday. Glasses have been getting bigger and badder for years now and we're loving these sunnies from the Swedes. Cheap Monday says the collection conveys a "kick-ass" attitude, something we've always approved of at EWG. We'll feature some opticals in a week or two.

KISS in John Varvatos Eyewear Spring 2014 ad campaign

Well before Miley Cyrus was showing us her tongue, New York rockers KISS were putting their taste buds on display, with better make-up to boot. Here are some striking images from John Varvatos Eyewear's Spring 2014 ad campaign. Inspired by the KISS album, Dressed to Kill, the images feature the group in full makeup wearing John Varvatos sunglasses and suits.

Spike Lee stars in Cazal's 2014 lookbook

Cult film director Spike Lee makes a guest appearance in Cazal's 2014 lookbook, shot by photographer Armen Djerrahian in Brooklyn. Here we give you a taster but to see the full lookbook, visit Cazal...

CW Dixey & Son Chartwell 02 spectacles

We've featured CW Dixey & Son glasses here previously – good to see them still going strong. These are the classy Chartwell 02, perfect if you want a pair to peer over with a slightly disapproving look!

And it was just announced that CW Dixey will be featured in the Linley Exhibition in London, celebrating British design, craftmanship, engineering and innovation. CW Dixey will feature alongside Rolls-Royce, McLaren, Lobb and Bremont watches, among many other distinguished names. More here...

Cubitts glasses online: Brunswick, Herbrand and Wicklow

After having taken a bit of breather, EWG returns to find some interesting trends in the world of glasses. There suddenly appear to be quite a few websites, sometimes with a physical shop like Playn Eyewear, offering very good value, quality specs for around the £100 mark.

Cubitts has caught my eye: good Italian acetate, pin drilling, barrel hinges, decent lenses... the list goes on! And as is fairly typical for online sellers now, you get to choose up to four pairs in a home trial, before you choose the frame you really fancy. Above is Brunswick, left is Herbrand and below is Wicklow.