Lunettes Kollektion 2012: Brillen brilliance from Berlin

More from Berlin, this time in the shape of Lunettes Kollektion's new lookbook...

A bridge too far? Theo by James

Here are some specs you're unlikely to forget. Theo has collaborated with James Van Vossel to create this unique design, a single-wire rimless frame with a memorable looping bridge. A bridge too far? No - Theo has always created some frames that stand out and long may it continue.

We rarely feature rimless so it's a pleasure to find a pair which include such statement. Referring back to yesterday's Cazal post, are these maximal minimalism?

Theo by James is available in six colours. Square-lensed models are James 3 while round ones are James 4.

Cazal 9036: tomorrow's classics today?

Cazal is brilliant. Regardless of almost every influence, Cazal has blazed a trail doing exactly what it likes. Its frames may have caught the imagination of the hip-hop scene in the 1980s and vintage models can exchange hands for hundreds of £/$/€ but it has never stopped creating breathtaking designs, something it calls "Pure Maximalism".

This is new model for 2012: Cazal 9036. Also in black/gold and brown/gold.

A room with a Vue: Kis sunglasses

Vue DC is a brand we need to get to know much better in 2012. You may remember we featured Lyz here for its Silmo D'Or nomination last year. We loved them and we love these: Kis. Available in three other colours...

Oliver Goldsmith white Pyramid shades from the 1960s

These triangular white "Pyramid" sunglasses were made by Oliver Goldsmith for a campaign for a Vidal Sasson campaign in 1966 (although I've also read '68 and '72). They were designed to go with a particular haircut but I've never managed to track down a photo of the two together.

Many of the original shades from that era are still available from Oliver Goldsmith here... You can also see these sunglasses in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Upward spiral: Monoqool wins Good Design award in Chicago

Danish spiral hinge afficionados at Monoqool have won another design award for its NXT Helix frame, above. The "Good Design"accolade, the seventh such award since Monoqool launched in March 2010, came from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design.

More on Monoqool's singularly cool frames here...

Kick Eyes Glasses for the partying classes: compressed felt shades

You can never go to enough parties, so hot on the heels of Ch00ftech's New Year's Eve shutter shades comes the intriguingly named Kick Eyes Glasses, from Nono Muaks.

These look great do they not!? And EWG has to create a new tag for the material: compressed felt! It bends but "never breaks".

The felt shades come in pink, green, red and black. Price $9.99.

Eyekemist: acetate glasses inspired by alchemy

Two Frenchmen, Julien DJU Vansteeger and Ludovic Edouard Dader, have combined to create the new brand Eyekemist, a small but perfectly formed collection of five acetate frames in four colours. Here we present three - top to bottom: Aeris in brown; Aqua in ruby bloody smoked red; and Aurum in purple.

More models from more designers are in the pipeline for March 2012...

Who made Kanye West's shutter glasses?

Shutter glasses, also known as Venetian blinders, were made for Kanye West by French eyewear supremo Alain Mikli. Kanye West brought them to the fore again, after a period of popularity in the 1980s, in his video Stronger. Why am I writing about them now, five years later? You'll see...

The first example I found of them being worn was in Simple Minds' 1982 video Glittering Prize below...

You'll see that the original 1980s frame above – image from my review of Moss Lipow's excellent book Eyewear and courtesy of Taschen – and the gold one in the Simple Minds video had only a narrow frame at the temples and is quite different to the Stronger aviator-shaped white pair worn by the Kanye West .

Others have made them too.

Indeed there's a company called Shutter Shades who churns them out in every colour.

And Mykita collaborated with Romain Kremer for this version, left,  in stainless steel.

But I think, partly because of his amazing blog post on how he did it, my favourite is Ch00ftech Industries who adapted a pair for 2012 New Year's Eve partying...

Pulling the wool over your eyewear: Lunettes Kollektion x Cooperative Designs

Another of our big favourites of 2011, Berlin's Lunettes Kollektion, has started the New Year well, announcing this 2012 collaboraton with London's witty knitters Cooperative Designs.

Hand-crocheted spectacle chains from Cooperative Designs combine with five Lunettes sunglasses which have been transformed with lens cut-outs for the "Wish you were here" sunglass collection.

Genius.

Available at selected stores priced £270 or €299 and online from Lunettes Kollektion.


Photos: Emma Tempest.

Erna glasses in Havana brown and gold dust by Fleye

'Erna' in Havana brown and gold dust landed Danish eyewear designer Fleye an  iOFT Eyewear of the Year 2012 award in the ladies glasses category. We particularly like the detail where the nosepad wire is threaded through the bridge. 

RockOptika 2012: limited edition Antibes in black and gold

We start 2012 with limited edition sunglasses from Rock Optika, one of the most exciting new eyewear brands of 2011. The model is Antibes and it comes with Christian Dalloz 24ct gold lenses... class.