CGD

The young designer Aleš Kachlík was working on his first collection already as part of his diploma thesis. Soon after, he established the Lume brand and began selling eyewear, as well as producing it to order. His collection Contemporary Classics earned him the Excellent National Design 2015 award. He designed the line with a purely rational approach in order to make it comply with the requirements of serial production. Although he based it on well-proven shapes made for generations, new technologies helped him shift it to an extremely minimalist and elegant level. Preparing more extensive production will nevertheless take some time, and Kachlík thus resumed taking a totally opposite direction in his following line, which is limited and where each item exists as a single piece. The eyewear from the collection Past Future does not follow any topical trends and is much more difficult to manufacture. It is inspired by the cosmic era of the 1960s, the dreams about conquering new galaxies, the aesthetic visions exceeding the technological and production possibilities of that time and the visual style of the iconic sci-fi movies, fusing the best of the contemporary radical industrial design and the subtle organic shaping of products. The individual designs were preceded by thorough research and studying the history of the field.

New technologies and specifically adapted production – precise cutting of the firm alloy of surgical steel, demanding milling of specially made acetate blocks or exclusive 3D print of metal gave birth to a collection that moves to the verge between design and applied arts. Glasses as a fashion accessory reflect industrial aesthetics and the methods of automotive programs. The massive plastic frames were milled from layered traditional Italian acetate pressed into blocks, with metal hinges then printed to measure from steel dust.

Tereza Kozlová