The indie optometrist’s guide to Silmo

October 30, 2022 Panos Nicolaou

Panos Nicolaou, owner of independent London optometry practice Cult Vision, explains why Silmo is more than just an optical fair.

 

When people ask me why I go to Silmo, I usually tell them it’s to buy frames for Cult Vision, my practice in Central London. But it’s also a social event where I see people I wouldn’t otherwise meet for the whole year, do a bit of business, have a bit of fun and get inspired with ideas to reinvigorate my business.

 

 

This year I came to the show via Stockholm, Sweden. I’d gone there to meet one of Silmo’s regular exhibitors, independent eyewear brand Vasuma. The brand epitomises what I look for in eyewear – something different and made with real commitment and passion. Vasuma’s founders, Jan Vana, Lars Malmsten and Steffen Sundelius, may not be optometrists or opticians but they are a big part of what we do. Highly creative and with skin in the game, I find it more interesting to stock the shelves with their gear rather than the same eyewear you see everywhere and which is probably curated by an accountant armed with a spreadsheet and licence from a fashion brand.

 

Showtime!

I arrived at the show on Friday morning and struck out to explore the vast world of eyewear laid out before me. I began at the Startup Village, where a young artisan who makes spectacle chains caught my eye. We chatted, I took some photos of what she had on offer, gave her my business card and took hers. I then moved onto a new Italian eyewear brand with some interesting shapes and acetates and once more performed the card-swapping ritual. It’s possible to spend the whole day like this, walking the fair and stopping when you see something that catches your eye. While there’s nothing wrong with that, time can fly and you’ll only get to see a fraction of the show.

 

Thrills without spills was the goal at EssilorLuxottica's bar

 

The rest of Hall 5 was full of the type of eyewear brands I am interested in – independent, offering a real and exciting alternative to the mainstream. I liken curating eyewear to any creative endeavour, somewhere between fashion, the decorative arts and engineering. I believe everyone gravitates towards eyewear that resonates with them, so architects may be drawn to engineered frames like the Belgian brand Theo or Ørgreen Optics, from Denmark. Personally, I like art, culture, creativity, classic movies and commerce, so I made a beeline for the eyewear that evoked those elements.

 

Marta Cribillés Alfaro from Woodys

 

As I browsed, my mind went back to Silmo 2021, when Covid restrictions were in place and the show was about half the size of this one. Even under those conditions, these brave exhibitors made the effort. I was actually drafted in to support another brilliant independent brand I stock, Switzerland’s Einstoffen. The company was founded by Ramon and Raphael Büsser, Christian Gisela and Philippe Rieder, who were crazy enough to think it was a good idea to get involved with optical professionals.

 

Husband and wife eyewear design duo, Talla’s Gianluca Gualandi and Caroline
Abram of Caroline Abram

 

My next appointment was with Paname, quintessentially French with bright colours, brave designs, and stylish yet wearable. I sat down with the lovely Anne Louvel to look at every tray she showed me, aiming to narrow it down to 20-30 frames to fully represent the brand. When I’m back in London, I’ll display them with the same level of care as an art gallery curator.

 

Silmo Next, today and tomorrow

This year was my first visit to the Silmo Next area to see the entries for the 2022 Silmo d’Or Awards and the organisers’ take on what’s around the corner for the optical industry. Adi Abramov, a young design student from Israel’s Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art, won the inaugural Optical Design Contest for students. His concept ‘Unfoldable’ frames are made from recycled materials and were described by the judges as “having a brutalist aesthetic”, with interchangeable profiled X-hinge stems.

 

Eyes Right Optical’s Mark Wymond, Kymm Bishop and Maxime Peyrot

 

The Silmo d’Or finalists’ area struck me as a great place to decide who you might want to stock, because each company enters one frame they feel represents their brand identity for that year. Silmo Next’s techy bit also had some cool stuff that made you think outside the box for both your practice and the future of the industry, plus a museum of eyewear, which was quite fun with some bonkers designs.

 

The Matthews’ Silmo team of Francis Hassan, Julian Matthews,
Lynley Matthews and Sue Martin

 

The trends

Though they were evident throughout the fair, both on display and jauntily adorning many a face, the Silmo team also outlined this year’s trends in the Silmo Next area, with fun little write-ups to boot.

 

1. Composite frames, in metal and plastic – These assert their ‘streamlined sophistication’ with essential shapes enhanced by a controlled complexity of volumes; a masterful multiplication of accents and finishes to add character to every pair of deliberately designer frames
   
   
2. Big brown is the new black – Black has not disappeared, of course, being a standard in eyewear. However, intense dark browns are taking over, offering a variety of rich tones: tortoiseshell, mahogany, cacao, bistre, caramel, burnt sienna, bronze and more. These colours appear in materials with a great deal of density
   
   
3. Bulky, generous curves – These glasses have nothing to hide. They are eager to grab centre stage, with substantial proportions that can be quite exaggerated. A wide array of materials, thicknesses and curves steal the show for an impressive look. This trend area also includes the visible/invisible concept with ‘thick’ frames in crystal plastic that play peek-a-boo, unapologetically imposing their presence
   
   
4. Enlightened classic, not boring but stylish – The ‘enlightened classic’ concept takes a new perspective of familiar eyewear shapes. Redesigned, reworked and resized, they bring a fun touch with a stylistic twist that reaches outside the box, beyond standards and aesthetic conventions. The idea is to break with the established codes while maintaining a certain elegance

 

NZ Optics’ editor Lesley Springall and
eyewear designer Ignazio Ibba

 

Wrapping up

Suitably inspired, I grabbed a coffee and a croissant at Cazal’s nice-looking stand en route to meet my friend, eyewear designer and recycled lens sculptor Yair Neuman and Harry Bessis, the owner of a rare gem of a factory in the Jura region of France. We talked about my little project to realise the production of my own eyewear designs. Unfortunately, it’s hard to get metal eyewear made anywhere ‘locally’ in Europe as most of the production is either spoken for or closed to newcomers, which is why most metal frames are now produced in the Far East.

 

François van den Abeele, founder of Sea2See

On Saturday I was tempted to go over to the stands from China, which normally take up about a third of one hall, but were absent last year and severely depleted this year due to Covid. Several factories now offer much lower minimum order quantities from their collections than the usual 300, but for now, it’s not for me. My good buddy George Libuda, founder of the wonderful German eyewear supplier Opticunion, has been dealing with China for years and passes the savings on to me for my entry-level collection, so I still get the quality guarantee at a great price. Opticunion also happened to have the best beer at the show! After lunch I headed to Chinese acetate manufacturer Jimei, which also makes a range of acetate spectacle chains. After that, I felt I’d seen all I could handle, so I headed out for a Saturday night in Paris.

 

Eric and Linda Bleakley and JF Rey’s Laure Delus

 

Although there was another day of Silmo to go, I always take one day off to enjoy a bit of Paris, take in some culture, visit a museum or a flea market. Sunday was bright, sunny and crisp – perfect for an optometrist to get better acquainted with the City of Light. If you do come to Silmo, I thoroughly recommend you make a mini break out of it. After all, it’s so much more than an optical fair!

 

An optometrist since 1999, Panos was chairman of his regional optical committee for 12 years. He established a chain of 15 optometrist-owned franchises before setting up his own practice. He also owns Traders and Makers, a distributor of high-quality independent eyewear brands.

 

With additional reporting by Lesley Springall