20:20 vision, but make it fashion

What makes the perfect eye wear and how do we know which is right for us?

I spent an afternoon with VISION INDUSTRY at Mall of Emirates, a beautiful standalone store that houses anything from luxury brands to trendy high street designs. However, what I didn’t know, is VISION INDUSTRY has a bespoke counter. It allows the customer not only to create create the perfect eyeglass or sunglass but to tailor make everything from the frame down to the hinges.

I sat with VISION INDUSTRY’s artisan Riccardo Maguolo to find out more.

How do you start the process?
We start with finding the purpose of the frame – is the customer looking for sunglasses or optical?

Then we’ll try to find the best combination, matching the colour and shape to find the fit the face for their face. From there, we will define some curves if it must be a little bit more square or rounded.

We have 40 colours that customers can choose from, and we start the design on our computer. Depending on the complexity of the manufacturing, we make a prototype which takes a week and then the customer comes back for the fitting, and we check to see if there are any changes needed or not. Then we’ll create the final product and owing to factors like whether they’re sunglasses or eyeglasses, the prescription, or the design, the whole process takes about two weeks.

Do more women or men come in to make the bespoke pieces?
We find more men choosing to create bespoke options.

Women tend to choose luxury brands and spend more on a well-known, trendy piece. Men, on the other hand, want to have something that is more then and unique, but we are hoping to change this and get more women interested in creating bespoke pieces.

What would you recommend if a client has an idea in mind, but it doesn’t suit them? Do you advise that customer to choose something else?
We always try and encourage them to find something more suitable that works with their face shape. The same goes for colours that work better with different skin tones. But again, the concept is bespoke so essentially they decide in the end what they want.

Store Manager Marc Thompson mentioned that when it comes to eyewear most of the customers will have prescriptions and this helps in narrowing down the shapes of the frames.

Where do you source your materials?
Most of them are sourced from Italy, from two suppliers – Mazzucchelli and Laes. These two are often used as well with luxury brands when they create their eyewear.

Tell me about the standards of these bespoke pieces.
The quality is very durable. We can play with how light or how thick it is. We started using Buffalo Horn and the shapes and materials are unique and the craftmanship is excellent.

What are the price ranges?
For regular bespoke pieces we start at AED 3,000 and go up to AED 6,000.

What happens after you choose your shape for your eyeglasses?
The next step is to see our resident optometrist where a thorough exam is done to check everything. Once this is completed and this differs from an existing prescription, then it will be collated and if you don’t then the prescription is provided and the bespoke process can begin.

What happens at the fitting before the final product is completed?
The length of the sides of the glasses sitting on the temple is very important for comfort and to keep the glasses in the same place and avoid movement. Basically, the length is checked from the temple to the bend and thus any adjustments can be done before the final piece is made.

The next point is checking the accurate position of the lens, to reduce distortion and allows the vision to be the best that it can be. This is done by standing on a green lasered light on the ground and looking straight at the mirror while the machine takes the measurements.

The fact that we have our own machines here minimises errors and we can do the best possible finish and provide the best possible outcome.