YesNaturallymakingseeingmatter

Rayban printable paper sunglasses cutout

When I first approached my project I started out using tinkerCAD blind. I drew two half circles and cut some eye holes out of them and pressed print. Needless to say they did not look good on anyone’s face. I worked for awhile on tinkerCAD struggling with the limitations of an additive-subtractive polygon based sculpt tool, glasses need clean curves and delicate lines in order for them to not be cumbersome on the face. My glasses started looking much more professional once we learned adobe illustrator, and the best moment was when I found Rayban cut out paper sunglasses online so that I could completely copy the shape of the frames on adobe illustrator and put the .svg into tinkerCAD. My hope was to use 123D design to fillet the corners of the glasses, making them more of a curved shape than square frames but something about my file made it not work on 123D design. The most challenging part of creating glasses using a digital modeling platform was how hard it was for me to create good looking curves. No matter what software I used it was always challenging for me to create sleek looking glasses, which is in part why I think glasses look so blocky and square on the downloadable pairs from thingiverse. If I had more time with the project I would want to troubleshoot some of the problems that I have had with my model, creating glasses that function and can be downloaded and used is a really powerful thing. My hopes for my project are simple, I want to print out my last iteration of my glasses, and once I confirm that they will print I will upload my design to thingiverse so that anyone can use and improve upon my model.

Model: 7g Print time:~35 min  FRAMES X:26.92mm Y:87.25mm Z:5mm ARM X:20mm Y:81.50 Z:5mm

				
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(Emma) Image history of bifocals

(Emma) TinkerCAD screenshot of 2nd iteration

(Protos) Advertisement for 3D printed frames

(Rao) If a simple scan of your face can be taken, then ideally you could customize your frames online alongside your face

(Emma) 123D catch glasses frame scan screenshot

(Emma) 1st iteration of glasses frames next to similar bought frames

(Emma) All iterations of frames that I’ve printed

When exploring my topic in photos I started out with the history of bifocals through visual images. I thought that It would be important to understand all of the different styles and shapes that glasses frames have taken on throughout history if I am to ‘reinvent’ the way frames are made in the future. After this I attempted to create some three-D printed frames without any help from already made frames ( I was basically trying my first printed iteration blind). The outcome was a set of frames that were blocky and unflattering, strikingly geometric next to some bought frames. My next step was to take multiple images of a pair of bought glasses frames and use the scan as a building block to help keep the printed glasses sleek but also alter them to the shape of your face. The three-D images didn’t successfully scan so my next step is to scan the frames with the Kinect and to work on making some frames customized to my face. This iteration helped me look at the history of glasses as well as look critically at what I have produced already in order to move froward and produce something better.

We exist in a world full of corporate greed and global monopolies, everywhere you look there are conglomerates that are cornering the market and setting prices, all it takes is a small amount of research to uncover what is really going on all around us. At the start of my blue rabbit project I found out almost immediately that the leading supplier of eyewear in the global market is a company called Luxottica. At 65 million pairs of glasses produced in one year, and ½ a billion people around the world wearing Luxottica products every day (Luxottica) you would think that this would be a household name; which lead me to ask the question “Why have I never heard of this company?” There is a simple answer, it is because Luxottica designs and produces sunglasses and optical frames for countless brands across the world. Brands such as Tiffany, Ray Ban, Chanel, Gucci, and even Sunglass Hut all are supplied and/or owned by Luxottica. (Beaumont)

This has a direct correlation to what you pay out of pocket when you break your trusty frames. Ten years ago glasses from a local frame maker/optician would cost about thirty dollars; now with the market cornered you are paying hundereds of dollars for frames with the same material cost as ever.  The have a stronghold on the market, affecting anyone in the optical field. If you make glasses you want them to be in their stores, and if you own a store you want their products in them so you can provide your customers with what they may want to buy. Oakley brand sunglasses had a dispute with Luxottica about pricing, resulting Lux. Brand not carrying Oakley sunglasses in any of their chains. This resulted in the stock value in Oakley dropping drastically, and finally Luxottica buying out the brand from under them when their company was weak. (Luxottica) Power like this will go unchecked until something can challenge what they offer.

You may ask “What did Luxottica do that made the price of your frames change?” They took a medical device and through marketing and branding changed the perception from “nerdy” to “sleek.” Since JFK, every U.S. president has sported a pair of Ray Bans, associating power and prosperity with a brand. Ray Bans made movie appearances in the 80’s, like the iconic look of Tom Cruise in Risky Business. At that time another risky business was Ray Ban itself, which were dipping in the market and appearing in stores for 30 dollars. This was the perfect way for Luxottica to swoop in and save the day, buying up the company in 1999 and taking Ray Bans off the shelves for a year. No need to fret, they were back on the market soon enough, at inflated prices but with branding improvement.  They make glasses cool. Andrea Guerra said in a 60 Minutes interview with Barbara Walters about glasses frames, “It is one of the only objects that are 100% functional, 100% aesthetic, and need to fit your face for 15 hours a day.” (Luxottica)With a product that means so much to people’s lives, both in functionality and style, should we really trust one conglomerate to take care of all our optical needs?

With the availability and convenience of three-D printing now the public is beginning to have a louder voice, and the people are chiming out with a resounding “NO!” New websites are popping up all over the internet which is allowing people who don’t have the funds to start their own entrepreneurial ventures by simply creating video proposals of their pitch and uploading them to the sites. Crowdfunding, crowd financing, micro loans, hyperfunding and more are all new ways to describe this budding niche market. Only asking for 5% of the profits collected, these websites function on providing a place for inventors everywhere to ask for startup help without selling off shares of their delicate new industry.(Rushin) “Financial backers, which are armchair philanthropists of projects, put their trust in the project creators by providing cash in return for a promise of a future return. The return can be naming credits as with a film, a discount price of the develop item, or some insignificant benefit. “

Companies that were once crowdfunded ideas are now flourishing, selling their products and making a name for themselves in industries that were once impossible to elbow into. New manufacturers such as Protos Eyewear began just a few years ago with an idea, and a Crowdfunding website link. The founders of Protos were once all students of California College of the Arts, and now all of them have found an intrinsic role in the company. With Marc Levinson overseeing the company as CEO and visionary leader, John Mauriello as the CAD expert and design office, and Doug Ponciano as programming guru behind the customizable software, these three musketeers have changed the way running a company is approached.(Jovan) Unlike the way that Luxottica produces and ships glasses styles to various brand names, these three men are right in the thick of their company, innovating and improving the company every step of the way.

In the world of capitalism, bigger is always better. Bigger companies, bigger factories, and bigger workforce always equals a bigger profit. This model although prevalent in every industry seems to be unfit in the realm of eyewear. This is a profit driven system, not value driven, and when you are trying to provide something as important as optical equipment, value should always triumph over profit. This is the rational of Fetch eyewear, another customizable glasses company that can be found on the internet. They see that luxury eyewear is becoming outdated, boasting that they can provide quality and sophistication in their eyewear but not delivering the product. More and more companies are offering customization, but one thing I have yet to find online is customization, and the power to create coming from the consumer. (Sachs)

This is where my project will step in, with the use of a three-D scanner, such as one you can buy online, like Digisize (which comes with the scanner and the software)(Digisize) or a free Application for your smart phone such as 123d catch I would like to bridge the gap from ordering customized glasses from a provider and creating them yourself. Whether scanning a pair of glasses your friend has and tweaking them to fit the shape of your face, or scanning your whole head and completely fabricating your glasses yourself I want to help put your glasses frames back into your own hands.

Works Cited

Anon. “Is Luxottica Taking Over the World of Eyewear?” Beaumont Vision. Beaumont Vision, 21 Sept. 2012. Web. 01 Nov. 2014.

“DigiSize.” DigiSize. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2014.

Jovan, Jeremy. “Feature: Protos Eyewear | Idea Issue | Asterisk San Francisco Magazine.” Feature: Protos Eyewear | Idea Issue | Asterisk San Francisco Magazine. At Risk San Francisco, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

Luxottica- Do You Know Who Makes Your Glasses? Perf. Barbara Walters. 2013. Youtube. Youtube. 60 Minutes, 26 Oct. 2013. Web. 1 Nov. 2014.

Rushin, Gary. “Crowd Funding: Turnkey Financing Source for Entrepreneurs.” GaryRushincom RSS. Garyrushin.co,, n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2014.

Sachs, Ann. “Why Buy Independent Optical | Fetch Eyewear.” Why Buy Independent Optical | Fetch Eyewear. Fetch Eyewear, 21 Nov. 2012. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.

For my blue rabbit project I have decided to spend 8 weeks researching the cost and availability of custom glasses frames to the mid and lower classes as well as what it takes to three-D design and print frames without using a pre-made framework.

This idea is important because of the high cost of optical wear and the importance of functional glasses frames. If you go to a normal optometrists office to get new glasses you most likely will spend thirty minutes trying on glasses that you will wear for at least 2 years (The American Optometric Association recommends that non-senior adults and children over age 6 have regular eye exams a minimum of once every two years.) those glasses then will characterize your face for the rest of the time you wear them, and if you pay an obscene amount of money for a pair of glasses that don’t quite fit you right, you might end up not even wearing them, or paying more to find the right pair.

I have always had a hard time finding glasses that I thought I would actually wear every day, and when I have found “the one” pair they were always too expensive. Eye care is important and will degrade the more you ignore the problem, it can be frustrating when the only thing holding you back from getting the eye care you need is the high cost of frames. Buying lenses online, if you know your prescription, can be as low as 40 dollars, and if you customize your own frames (or scan in a pair that you want to print) you can cut down the cost of the frames to just the cost of materials.

Right now the monopoly on eyewear is controlled by Leonardo Del Vecchio at a net worth of 17.1 billion dollars, owner of Luxottica, which owns a slew of well-known brands such as Ray Ban, Persol, and Oakley. Luxottica also makes sunglasses branded Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Stella McCartney, Versace, Vogue, Miu Miu, Tory Burch, and Donna Karan. Leonardo is the 38th richest man in the world as of August 2014. Why must we trust this rich Italian fellow to produce all of our optical wear for us? Where else can we go?

Mykita is a berlin-based firm which has produced and patented their own process of creating three-D printed custom eye wear. In 2007 they made a polyamide-based material which uses selective laser sintering (SLS) to create a finished solid piece. With google-like ideals they call their workspace a ‘manufactory’ and have a specific vision for the aesthetic of the store. Adorned with white lights and smooth spaces each Mykita store has its own in-house optometrists who performs certified eye tests, generates customized optical profiles and adapts the frames and lenses to the wearer’s face in the store. It seems like the customized glasses seeker’s dream, right? At a whopping 400- 700$ there is a very limited amount of people who can actually afford Mykitas custom lenses.

There are many innovative techniques that are being utilized by eye wear designers, such as Tom Davies, who has been using three-D printing to print out prototype frames in store to ensure they will fit his customers’ correctly before he hand-crafts the custom frames from a more durable material such as bone.  Even in Silicon Valley entrepreneurs of the web are coming up with algorithms which can use two photos (portrait and profile) of your face and create the optimal glasses frames for the shape of your face. John Mauriello and Marc Levinson along with three other co-owners created Protos, a start-up company which is now offering custom frames to people who pledge ~500$.

This raises the question, “But where does that leave me?” as a college student with limited income and the opportunity to use a maker-bot, at least I don’t have to pay the fee to have Shapeways or iMaterialise print frames for me; but it also leaves me stuck counting on Thingiverse to have the fit I need. There is really no place with the option to customize glasses to your face online without paying a large fee and just handing it over for someone else to create. This quarter I want to find/use/or create a template where you can upload pictures of yourself onto an autoCAD program and use frame templates to create and morph the frames into exactly what you are looking for. Customization without all the useless fees.

“MYKITA – ABOUT.” MYKITA. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. https://mykita.com/en/mykitahaus#

“Protos Eyewear.” Protos Eyewear. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. http://www.protoseyewear.com/

Sharma, Rakesh. “Custom Eyewear: The Next Focal Point For 3D Printing?” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 10 Sept. 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. http://www.forbes.com/sites/rakeshsharma/2013/09/10/custom-eyewear-the-next-focal-point-for-3d-printing/

“TD Tom Davies.” TD Tom Davies. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

http://www.tdtomdavies.com/handmade.aspx