Eye for Design
Staying ahead of the curve is everything when it comes to differentiating in design — and that’s why LINDBERG, a Danish eyewear company, leads with a sleek, modern aesthetic and continuously pushes boundaries for ideation in the space.
Its latest launch is “thintanium,” an eyewear concept and patent-pending eyewear collection made with what may be the thinnest full-plate titanium ever used in the industry. LINDBERG’s engineers and designers created the concept and manufactured it in Denmark with its in-house experts.
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Referred to as an “engineering milestone” for the brand, LINDBERG said thintanium is named after thin titanium strips it developed for the collection. The look is almost rimless, but maintains the stability of a full titanium front, the brand explained, adding that “the designs weigh as little as 3 grams – so you might even forget you’re wearing them.”
Already, the LINDBERG thintanium collection has won two design awards: “The Red Dot: Best of the Best,” an impressive accolade, and the iF Gold Award, which was won from a pool 10,000 applicants. Only 75 brands received the honor.
Here, Henrik Lindberg, founder and chief executive officer of LINDBERG, talks to Fairchild Studio about the brand’s unique design aesthetic and methodology, and how it differentiates the company from others in the market.
Fairchild Studio: Where does LINDBERG draw its design inspiration from?
Henrik Lindberg: We have a team of eight designers. Every week, we sit down and discuss design concepts of what will work and likely not work. It’s a collaborative process between the designers and engineers of LINDBERG where everything is done in-house. Along with exploring ways of how to work with materials, we find inspiration from all aspects of creativity including art, architecture and, of course, fashion. We observe what the couture houses are showing, but with eyewear, what you see on the runway is not necessarily practical.
So, with LINDBERG designs, we look at what will be fashionable, comfortable and made from the best materials. Remember, the face is the very first thing you see when you meet a person, the first thing you look at, is their eyes. What is sitting in front of the eyes is quite important, and that drives our designs.
Courtesy Image.
Fairchild Studio: What role does Danish design play in influencing LINDBERG’s aesthetic?
H.L.: We build on the Danish design tradition of functionalism and minimalism, which means that every single element must be essential and clean. We stay away from ornamentation compared to some cultures who are known for their excessive decoration in their way of art and design. Danish design is functional and completely stripped bare. We are known for our ultra-lightweight glasses that can weigh as little as 1.9 grams where one can forget they’re wearing glasses. We know that there’s a huge difference of adding 10 grams of weight to, say, shoes, or to your pants than it is to add 10 grams to a piece of eyewear that would sit on one’s face, being very uncomfortable.
During the early stages of the design process, we became aware that titanium, as a material, was suddenly being pushed into the manufacturing world. We always pride ourselves in choosing the right material for our glasses where titanium is one of the most ingenious natural elements, which possesses unique properties. Titanium is lightweight, flexible, durable, hypoallergenic and noncorrosive.
Another useful feature the element holds is the way it can naturally change color. LINDBERG has a highly specialized and manual method that can result in slight color variations of the rainbow. Currently, we have 36 titanium colors where the wearer can choose their color options for each part of their frame as part of the LINDBERG customization process.
Fairchild Studio: How has design in the eyewear market evolved, and why are customers loyal to LINDBERG products?
H.L.: From a design perspective, consumers can customize their own LINDBERGs if they want one perfect frame for every occasion that will fit them extremely well and matches their individual style. We are able to meet consumer demands by making everything in-house where every single frame is tailor-made for the consumer. Our eyewear is unique, timeless and long-lasting where wearers end up becoming lifetime fans after wearing their first LINDBERG frame.
Fairchild Studio: How does technology inform the LINDBERG design process?
H.L.: Technology and innovation play an important role in our designs. The eyewear industry tends to be very conservative in that sense. A lot of sunglasses today are still made the same way they were 20 years ago. They are still heavy, bulky and made with screws that can easily fall out, so it’s not very long-lasting. It looks stylish when you have it in your hair, but as soon as you wear it, it’s too heavy and not so comfortable. A lot of these luxury brands mass produce for seasonal trends. They’re not interested in solving the wear problem, but that’s where LINDBERG is able to separate itself from the rest of the eyewear brands.
Most luxury brands are interested in flaunting their name and logos. We go the other way. Our design is clean, and our branding is recognized through our design aesthetic and technical elements. We ask ourselves, how we can make something subtle and stylish with adjustability and comfort? With the right materials, technology and design experts, this is an exciting challenge we achieved since the ‘80s and continue to push new innovations each day.
As we do everything ourselves, we can control all production and test each product, which is tailor-made for the individual. We are not sending everything to a foreign factory where we have no visibility. Each pair of unique LINDBERG glasses is individually crafted and hand-finished by eyewear specialists.
Fairchild Studio: What’s next on the horizon for LINDBERG?
H.L.: Our recent launch of thintanium, a brand new collection and eyewear concept, is a major milestone for us.
For this collection, we pushed the limits for titanium to the next level and created what we believe is likely the thinnest full-plate titanium eyewear collection in the world and the future of all titanium eyewear. LINDBERG’s DNA concentrates on unique designs, unique technical solutions, and, of course, working with unique materials. The search to always optimize by creating, designing, constructing and producing the impossible has driven the company from the start to where it is today. We have been in situations where challenges arose, where new technological levels were needed to reach our goals. Only recently did our expert engineers and tool makers succeed in cracking the problem. The result is a great-looking and technical superior design.
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