What else could a frame be made of?

Lucas de Staël’s workshop is a good place to reconsider your assumptions about eyewear materials. The designer began Undostrial in 2006 and launched his namesake brand in 2012, establishing a workshop in a former printing factory in Paris’s 19th arrondissement. The official account describes a team developing its own tools and methods to work with unexpected materials.

In an Eye See Mag interview, de Staël explained his interest in rethinking industrial production and making things with the tools and materials around him. He discussed frames combining metal with leather, wood or stone, as well as experiments with eggshell. The attraction is in finding a process that lets an unlikely material become part of something wearable.

These are frames to investigate slowly. Texture changes the way a color reads; a natural surface can soften the precision of a metal structure. Ask about the construction of the specific pair, how it should be handled and what care it needs. Knowing the material is part of enjoying the object, especially when the design has taken a less familiar path.