In 2000, 20/20 introduced “Artist of the Frame,” an ongoing series featuring interviews with those men and women who have made a career of designing eyewear. The series has continued through 2014 and is still evolving.

On these pages, we share some of the thoughts from those interviews about eyewear and reflect on the enormous impact these individuals have made and continue to make on eyewear as we know it today.

—Gloria Nicola



BLAKE KUWAHARA

The first interview in the series was with Blake Kuwahara, who at that point worked with the California-based Wilshire Designs, creating Kata Eyewear. Today, Kuwahara is the president of the Los Angeles-based Focus Group West, a branding and design company that serves as a creative collective and hub for the interaction between eyewear designers, architects, graphic designers and public relationship specialists to design, develop and promote product, interior spaces and brand identity for eyewear and fashion companies. Designing eyewear wasn’t part of Kuwahara’s original career plans. He had an aptitude for science, winning a national science competition and receiving a research grant from NASA in high school, but he also had an artistic side he wanted to fulfill. “The solution seemed to be optometry. It’s a nice, respected profession and also has this other retail/fashion side to it,” he notes. So Kuwahara joined a private optometric practice in California where he was responsible for overseeing the dispensary and buying products. “I loved the product aspect of the business,” he notes. “And I like working with patients, but I wanted something more artistic. So in 1990, he took a job with Wilshire Designs as head of product designs, creating all of its eyewear collections including the Liz Claiborne line. When Kuwahara first started designing, the industry was still heavily into plastics, but was beginning to shift into metals. “I saw this change as an opportunity to take my designs in a new direction. I wanted to do more artful, more boutique-like creations, but still keep them wearable. I believe design should be subtle. It’s about the cut of a buttonhole, the placement of a pocket, the use of wonderful materials. I admire designers who can bring something to market that is commercially viable. That’s what I wanted to do with eyewear—create basic shapes and classic designs with expressive detailing.” And that’s what he did when he designed Kata, which takes its name from the Japanese word for shape and form.



SANFORD HUTTON
Sanford Hutton was literally born into the optical business. His father and grandfather were optometrists, and from the time he was very young, he assisted his father with exams. He also worked in various boutiques and decided to become a licensed optician. That led to his passion for design.

“At the point I was working in boutiques (in the late ’70s), I became aware of how limited the color offerings were, so I decided to design frames in simple, classic shapes in 25 vibrant colors, including cherry red, emerald green, cobalt blue and violet. We wanted to establish eyewear as an accessory and build on the idea of wardrobing long before it was thought of in that way. The product was so successful a cult grew up around it, and celebs, top models and actors and actresses began seeking it out. “We were bringing color to an industry that was virtually without color,” Hutton says. Because of the popularity of the eyewear, he founded the New York City-based Colors in Optics in 1978. In response to innumerable requests, a few years ago, Colors in Optics relaunched its Original Vintage Collection. The frames have the same names as the initial styles and are offered in the same vibrant colors. “Fortunately, although we started out humbly, I think we have made a statement and created a personality with our brand,” Hutton notes.



LAURENCE LAFONT
Designing fashion-oriented product was a logical step for Laurence Lafont. “I grew up with fashion. My grandfather was in the fashion-button business. Then I married into it,” she noted. Her husband Philippe Lafont is the grandson of Louis Lafont, the founder of the Lafont boutiques in Paris. Laurence’s foray into the optical business started in the early ’70s. “I said to my husband, ‘it’s a pity there isn’t any interesting eyewear for our generation.’ He suggested I design a few frames for the Lafont boutique.” Her first collection sold so well opticians throughout France began to call the boutique to purchase frames. This led the couple to make the decision in 1979 to go into eyewear design in earnest. For Lafont, color was the key to design. “A rectangular frame is a rectangular frame. The use of color is what distinguishes it,” she emphasized. “The personality of any collection is in its colors. Look at the designer Paul Smith. He does very conservative suits, but always adds a surprising accent of color to give his clothes a distinctive signature.” Lafont also felt balance was key to successful design. “We want people to look stylish in their eyewear, but we also want the frames to wear well, to function, to be comfortable. Frames, and actually all fashion, should be something we can wear proudly, but also wear well.”



THOMAS LAFONT
Thomas Lafont, the fourth generation in the optical business and the second generation of designers, is continuing and evolving the design legacy his mother left when she passed away in 2008. Although he officially joined Lafont in 1996, he began coming to the design studio with his mother when he was an infant. “She taught me about taste, about product, about glamour.” It’s this continuity that’s so important to him and the Lafont brand. “We do everything ourselves in our design studio, and we always try to connect the whole story, from the frame designs to the merchandising materials to the shops and trade show booths. We want everything we do to be consistent and reflect the Lafont image,” he emphasizes. But as much as Lafont believes in continuity, he realizes evolution is the key to lasting success. “We continue the Lafont tradition, but we also add our own taste and style. We are always looking for something new. It’s in our blood, and that’s what our customers expect from us. When you buy Lafont, you buy the spirit, quality and ideas associated with Lafont, and you always buy something new and different. We like to compare our eyewear to fine wine. It’s always good, but like good wine, the taste is a little different with each production.”



LARRY SANDS
He was grinding lenses at 15, doing refractions at 16 and had a chain of five optical stores by the time he was 23. Although he left the optical world in his mid-20s to start a rock band, Larry Sands returned to optical, founding the Optical Shop of Aspen retail operation and the Optical Shop of Aspen wholesale business. Sands has been instrumental in defining luxury eyewear and establishing eyewear as a lifestyle accessory. “I wanted to write a brand new song for optical,” Sands says. “The early ’70s felt like the right time. Something as simple as window displays were frowned upon at the time because people believed eye doctors should have an upstairs professional office. Merchandising was a conflict of interest.” He also went against the grain when he opened his first Optical Shop of Aspen in Aspen, Colo. He was told no one buys glasses on vacation. He continued to use the name with great success, expanding into other upscale tourist markets, including Arizona and California. With all of his locations and wholesale business, Sands remained true to his original philosophy: “You can’t be all things to all people. You have to target your customers and go straight for them. There’s a great divide between a $100 frame and a $1,000 frame, just as there is a great difference between the customer who spends $100 and the one who spends $1,000.”



CHRISTIAN ROTH AND ERIC DOMEGE
In 1984, Christian Roth and Eric Domege founded Optical Affairs in New York City and created the Christian Roth Eyewear brand, which has appeared on the covers of such fashion magazines as Women’s Wear Daily and Vogue. In 2012, Roth and Domege founded the firm Optical Affairs Company and launched their e-commerce destination, christian-roth.com. For 30 years, Roth and Domege have brought their own unique sensibilities to eyewear, creating a visionary brand that defines trends and sets fashion standards. From the beginning, they have tried to elevate eyewear to the next level. “We like to get away from the ordinary and do something others haven’t done. It’s essential to look at design with fresh eyes and decide where you can take it,” Roth says. “We have to recognize what works, what could work with modifications and what doesn’t work. Ultimately our goal has been to make people look good—to mirror their personalities and the zeitgeist of the times, interpreting these elements in new ways. What’s also important in good design is a sense of proportion—a blend of fashion and function, form and technology, a balance between luxury and practicality.” Design, Roth says, is an ongoing process. “We are always analyzing product and changing it to make it better. It doesn’t mean that it wasn’t good the first time, but with advancements in technology, it’s always possible to improve and refine details. But I think the key is to realize you can only design good product if you really love what you are doing.” Of all the designs they have done, three stand out as influential both in their own lines and in eyewear trends in general: semi-rimless styles; oversized “fierce, naughty” designs; and huge wraps. “When we first introduced the wrap, we received no support from the industry,” Roth notes. “Everyone thought we had lost our minds. And now the wrap is an incredibly hot and ubiquitous style.”



CYNTHIA SHAPIRO
Family, fashion and frames are key to Cynthia Shapiro’s life. They are also undoubtedly key to the success of Europa International, an eyewear business founded by Cynthia and her late husband Alan Shapiro in 1977 and its division Cinzia Designs created 10 years ago by Cynthia. Although Cinzia made its debut with a collection of readers because Shapiro saw the opportunity to provide fashionable readers to a market in need of options, she quickly made the connection between readers, chains, necklaces and an entire wardrobe of other fashion accessories such as bracelets. Cinzia has now evolved into a full line of ophthalmic frames and sunglasses within the Europa family of frames. Shapiro’s design philosophy can be summarized in one word—Cinzia. “I am Cinzia. Cinzia is me,” she says. “I love clean, straight shapes, and my designs are somewhat minimal, often inspired by architecture. I look for quality. I want things that last a long time, and I look for basic colors that will go with everything—maybe with a pop of color.” Shapiro feels the fact Europa has no designer names in its line has contributed to its success over the years. “It’s been difficult in an industry so driven by names, but we have stuck to our guns. It’s strictly our own designs and our own names. We are finally getting our message across to the public. They realize there can be a truly special quality about eyewear without a designer name that they won’t find in the chain stores.”



DAVID SPENCER
David Spencer, founder of Minneapolis-based Ogi Eyewear, loves design and loves eyewear. “I was born into the business. My dad was an O.D. for more than 50 years. He taught my two older brothers and me how to use lensometers by the time we were 7. In 1984, Spencer entered the retail segment of the eyewear market, opening an optical shop in Minneapolis in which he sold primarily high-end product. “But then I started getting younger customers in their teens who didn’t want to spend $300 on frames. I began looking for suitable products for that niche. Not finding what I wanted, I designed some styles myself.” It didn’t take him long to learn that his competitors wanted what he had to sell. In 1997, he established Ogi Eyewear. Spencer describes his designs as naturally simple and pure with a splash of color. “I like clean Scandinavian style with an American slant. I don’t junk things up with extra decoration. Even when the trend moved toward over-design and lots of decorative details, I stayed with my formula. It’s a little more classic so it holds up over the long run.”



CARI ZALLONI

For the late Cari Zalloni, founder and designer of Cazal Eyewear, more is more. After studying design at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna, Zalloni started his design career with projects ranging from furniture, decorative objects and drinking glasses to medical equipment, skis and trade show booths. His first venture into eyewear was in 1962 when he designed the Saphira collection for a small optical company. The collection was a big success with 150,000 pieces sold to the U.S. market. This inspired him to put his mark on something that until then had been an annoying necessity. “Opticians talk about the eyes. But when I design eyewear, it’s all about the face. My wish was to design optical accents for the face. I wanted to expand the idea of jewelry beyond fingers, wrists and necks,” Zalloni said. In 1975, he presented a collection of high-fashion eyeglass frames under the name Creation Cazal, which was an immediate success and has been distributed in the U.S. since then by New York-based Eastern States Eyewear and Miami-based Ultra Palm Optical. To Zalloni, Cazal style is similar to LA style. It’s meant to be noticed—the opposite of minimalism.



RICHARD MEWHA

A British-born New Yorker, Richard Mewha, the co-founder and designer of Bevel Specs, began in the optical profession as a sales rep and later national sales manager for Alain Mikli before moving on to Matsuda where he worked for 10 years. Although he was not designing at Matsuda, he was working closely with the factories and learning about brand identity. “That’s where I became really interested in the creative process and knew that’s where I wanted to be,” he notes. “I liked everything about the Matsuda collection from its high quality to its minimalist design. That’s always been part of my design philosophy and part of the Bevel brand philosophy, although I do use more color, which is a huge factor in the Bevel identity, and Bevel has a more modern orientation than Matsuda. What sets Bevel apart from other collections is we offer classic styling popular with North Americans mixed with a colorful, playful side inspired by European collections.” Mewha also feels it’s important to support independent eyewear brands that focus on handcrafted, artisanal products. “I like working with independent, skilled ECPs who believe in our product and convey that passion and excitement to the consumer.”



TOM DAVIES
The U.K.-based Tom Davies began his optical career at a factory in Hong Kong designing frames for many international brands. But he soon became frustrated because frames didn’t fit as well as they should, so he started adjusting sizes and selecting specific colors for friends and family. That’s when he realized there might be a niche in customizing eyewear. He now offers a full bespoke service under the name TD Tom Davies through a global network of exclusive opticians, as well as ready-to-wear collections. Service is the key word for Davies. “I’m pleased with my products, but I think what the industry needs now is more service. I want to make more tools available to opticians so they can do more designing and tweaking frames to suit their customers.” Davies emphasizes he does not open business everywhere. When deciding on whether to open an account, he looks for enthusiasm. “That’s essential to selling my product. I give them the tools, but they need the enthusiasm.”



GAI GHERARDI AND BARBARA MCREYNOLDS
For Gai Gherardi and Barbara McReynolds, eyewear designers and founders of l.a. Eyeworks, the optical business has always been about more than selling eyewear. It’s about communication and building lasting relationships. It’s about making people feel good. And most of all—it’s about having fun. From their “wow” eyeglass designs and their colorful, eclectic trade show booths to their first l.a. Eyeworks shop in an undeveloped area on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue in the early ’80s, everything they do is energized by their enthusiasm for the optical business. “Our goal with the store was to return eyewear to its simple roots,” says McReynolds. “We wanted eyewear to be a beautiful accessory to the face. We like styles from the ’40s and ’50s, which we thought had been forgotten.” Gherardi adds, “We wanted to peel back the fuss and frills and get a generic frame we could then embellish.” They started out selling only their own designs and only in their own store. Then they received a call from Henri Bendel, a New York retailer interested in their eyewear, and suddenly they were in the wholesale business. Although they were always actively involved in all segments of the business, their objective was to separate the business angle from the design aspect. “We wanted to design eyewear from day one,” they say. “The word ‘risky’ wasn’t in our vocabulary. Our goal was to get eyewear on the face. The challenge in design is making people individuals. We want everyone to feel good in his or her glasses. That is the essence of eyewear designs.” To reinforce this objective, for many years they have run an ad campaign with black and white photographs of such celebrities as Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Jodie Foster, all wearing l.a. Eyeworks frames and always containing the same tagline: “A face is like a work of art. It deserves a great frame.”■