Barcelona is a centre of modern creativity, with a contemporary art, food, design and music scene that has become internationally renowned for its imaginative and consistently avant-garde direction. The appearance of a new young eyewear brand coming into the market at a high level of quality and innovation is therefore unsurprising, but nonetheless makes for an exciting entry given the level of research and design precision interwoven in a product that is functional, light, and technically precise. Startup Lool Eyewear is located in a warehouse studio just behind MACBA and the large open space which hums with skateboarders. Following a single trade fair (Silmo 2016), the label, created by talented product designer Aris Rubio and entrepreneur Alex Carrasco, is already looking at increasing the size of its workshop to accommodate fast-paced international demand since the Paris show. The frames have seen immediate popularity in Barcelona, stocked by leading optical retailers such as Les Lunettes, Bassol and DM Optics.
“Lool is a multidisciplinary studio”, Alex told Eyestylist when we visited the label earlier this month. “We manufacture in series from metal sheets of steel (11R51). They are worked by hand, one by one in a precise technical process, combining the industrial and manual, man and machine.”
Influenced by retrofuturism in the context of disciplines such as architecture and urbanism, Lool has already launched three specific sheet metal stainless steel collections, and a patented screwless hinge – The Hub – which features across their ranges and offers maximum durability and easy assembly. The frames themselves are built with an architectural precision where, for example, material is removed on the inside of the frame, reducing weight and changing the look and general feel when worn. Rubio’s methodology is to study the points of tension around the front of the frame and take away what is not required from the inside, creating excellent lightness and flexibility in the metal material.
Lool’s three impressive collections – Tectonic, Stereotomic and The Grid, offer a strong starting point for a young team and their position in central Barcelona, where other likeminded designers are working in innovative collaborations, is likely to inspire further success as innovators of the future. Lool Eyewear will show at Opti Munich in January 2017. More information at www.looleyewear.com CN