How did you get to where you are today?
By extremely hard, focused and dedicated work, luck/timing/destiny and hopefully a nice bit of talent thrown in for good measure as well.
What do you enjoy the most about your job?
The first steps in the creative process – where everything is still up in the air, just before a great idea born in your mind, heart and gut takes shape from 2-D to 3-D.
What do you do for Specsavers?
I design the Osiris and sunglass collection which is stocked exclusively at Specsavers.
Tell us about the new Osiris collection?
It is a cosmopolitan take on eyewear classics – with an utterly modern twist. An ode to the millimetre precision, that is spectacle making and (hopefully) an alluring, fetching and captivating collection of fresh 21st century eyewear for people, who are bold, brave and beautiful and not afraid to make a statement whilst wearing glasses.
Where did you get your inspiration for the new range?
The collection is called Folkloric Fetish – and it is an eclectic mix of the actual literal definition of the word fetish – the borderline obsessive amount of attention given to an inanimate object. This is only my second collection for Osiris, and during my work on the first collection, I learned such a tremendous lot about this field, that I wanted to pay homage to the fact, that this design process is so millimetre driven – 0,3 cm does count! Something I can very easily relate to from the world of Haute Couture. Proportion is everything in fashion. And especially so, if it sits on our main feature, the face. All mixed with various folkloric elements: everything from the proud traditional regional folk dress of the frosted moors and the deep fjords of Scandinavia, over the impossible O.T.T glam of ’20s, ’30s and ’40s Hollywood royalty to the empowering testosterone fuelled re-embroidered colour clashed noble and ceremonial dress of the toreadors from the deep warm sun-kissed arenas of Sevilla in southern Spain.
What are your favourite frames?
For this particular collection, I am very fond of the ones I call “a pair of glasses within a pair of glasses”. They are made from under heated flamed platinum coloured sheet metal treated with acid to create a beautiful patina of an almost antique gold hue. This frame is then embedded in crystal clear resin to give you the effect, of a pair of glasses “so precious, they are exposed in a glass case”. Each pair is actually different, albeit the all-over uniform look – so we are actually offering the Osiris customer a totally unique pair of glasses – something I am thrilled about, as it resonates so well with my “day-job” as a couturier.
What is your top style tip when choosing glasses?
Have fun with your glasses and live the dream! Dare to be different! Just do it!
Who is your style icon?
Diana Vreeland.
