The Optical Vision Site

How Does a Designer and Eyewear Partnership Happen?

Cathy recently did a post “So You Wanna Be A Frame Designer? Eyewear Design Competitions” . This article made me think about how often I have been asked by people both in and out of the optical industry “How Does a Designer and Eyewear Partnership Happen?” This is a questions I have been asked a few times and at Vision Expo earlier this year I asked Zyloware to tell me about how Josie Natori and Zyloware came together. You might be surprised how simply and naturally this happened:

Natori Eyewear

The idea started when Bob Shyer of Zyloware read an article about Josie Natori in Women’s Wear Daily (WWD). He was impressed with her story -

“Natori, daughter of the Filipino contractor F.F. Cruz, was celebrating her 30th year in fashion by digging into what WWD heralded as a “new niche in the lingerie industry”: luxury sleepwear and glamorous at-home-wear.It had been 30 years since Natori, an investment banker and the first female vice-president in investment banking at Merrill Lynch, ventured into designing and selling hand-embroidered blouses from the Philippines — in New York. Since her first account which was Bloomingdale’s, she’s turned Natori into a world fashion brand.”

Bob thought that her business sense combined with her understanding of craftsmanship and comfort as well as a unique style would be perfect for  designing a new line of eyewear. He made the contact with her and the relationship between Natori and Zyloware was born. Josie Natori is a a hands on person and quickly became involved in design and development of her ophthalmic frame and sunglass line. She loves embellishment and jewels which of course became a major element of her eyewear designs.  Her own words about the design and creation of eyewear that she told me herself when I interviewed her personally at Vision Expo are as follows:

• Craftsmanship
• Women of different moods and desires
• Femininity with artfulness, thoughtfulness, indulgence and goodness
• Works of art with beauty and embellishment
• Comfort where East meets West
• I believe in glamor and luxury as the great rewards in life

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