2013 brought Atelier Eyewear, a fashion-forward eyewear line that keeps infinite understanding of its customers. It brings, in a sense, the modern age of bespoke frames that are personalized for you.
Atelier Eyewear was founded by Tim de Rosen and Leslie Kent. They had worked for thirty-five years previous to this joint effort in various educational, internet-related, and marketing endeavors. Together they bring a sheer passion and love of the industry — along with a great drive of knowledge.
They understand the current styles in a different context; for example, they know that nerd glasses frames are “in” right now. But at the same time they have an inherent respect for classic fashion, for art history, and for the ingrained culture in the country around them. They aren’t creating Atelier Eyewear to simply cash-in on a here-today gone-tomorrow industry. They’re meant to stick around.
A Trip around the World
Atelier Eyewear’s initial spark grew in 2010 when Tim de Rosen began researching the market of custom made eyewear. He understood after only a few days that such specs were meant for only a privileged group of people. With prices in the thousand dollar range, he realized that many people had to simply “do without” glasses that fit their face shape or preserved their sense of style.
His research took him out of his comfort zone. He traveled across the world, taking stocks in places like Italy, England, Germany, and Japan. Truly, he turned over every leaf in the eyewear industry and utilized his understanding of world culture and world economics to analyse it. After months of travel and inspection, he stumbled upon a Chinese manufacturer in Shenzhen, southern China. It was fate.
Here in Shenzhen, Tim found a factory owner, a descendant of an original craftsman of personalized glasses who operated in the 19th century. The owner held a strong desire to recreate his ancestor’s eyewear manufacturing. He longed to create personalized, different pieces of eyewear for different people, and he had the understanding of the required skills and the talent to make his dream a reality.
However, he did not have the capital or the experience in the greater eyewear fashion world. Luckily, Tim de Rosen and Leslie Kent invested their experience and, of course, their capital to fuel the Chinese manufacturer’s dream.
Flash forward to present day. Tim de Rosen and Leslie Kent currently introduce an entire range of Sunglasses and Optical pieces. Each item reflects the old Chinese craftsmanship and retains assimilation to the past. They’ve placed state-of-the-art eyewear expertise in order to blast this cultured, beautiful craft into the present tense.
Why Do You Need Atelier?
Atelier Eyewear attempts to rejuvenate your life. If you wear glasses, you probably utilize them for some sixteen, seventeen hours every single day. And, if you don’t have a thousand dollars to casually throw at a fashion statement, you probably haven’t enlisted the assistance of a bespoke company. Therefore, your glasses do not fit you. Period.
This current time of big box companies has generally eliminated the old bespoke, artisan glasses. Because you are a person of the world, you’ve had to assimilate into mass production, therefore the glasses you currently wear are probably worn by some other, trendy individual a few miles away. Chances are, your face shape and your nose shape and your general, overall bone structure are completely different than that person’s. However, the mass production of eyeglasses hasn’t accounted for that.
Atelier Eyewear is bringing unique quality back into the industry. It’s utilizing state-of-the-art online technology in order to understand your precise measurements. You must simply send them your prescription over the Internet, and allow a special software to “fit” you into your designated pair of glasses.
Not only that, you can choose from some forty original styles in both acetate and metal. Currently, Atelier is offering forty colors and finishes to match your personality — or just Thursday’s outfit. When you receive your personalized eye piece, it will actually come with your name on it. At roughly half of the cost of normal tailored, crafted eyeglasses, Atelier Eyewear allows you to prescribe to the very real theory that you are unlike anyone else — and you deserve to feel that way.
Therefore, if you find yourself trying to dress in the current times: like, say, a hipster or a sort of ironic nerd, seek your custom-made glasses with Atelier. Find Buddy Holly styled glasses, shutter-shades, and Ray Ban Wayfarer styles.
As mentioned, Tim studied the thriving culture of eyeglasses and knows the history of each of these eclectic styles. He recommends that if you look for individuality and purpose in your life, you must merge from the box-store ideas of eyeglasses to the stylish, one-off, measured eyewear from Atelier. Only then can you be truly the chic version of yourself.