Win what you wish!

One of our hopes when choosing our location was that we would be involved in an active community and this couldn't have turned out to be truer for Downtown Halifax - it's a great location!  There are many lovely local business all around us, offering great services, people with lots of knowledge and expertise and prices which compare well globally.

We obviously try to choose local suppliers when we can, but what we have also found rewarding is that the local businesses have embraced us in Downtown and we have many good folks from the local Downtown business coming in to see us as well.

Two things that have been particularly fun to be involved in is the I Love Local Hfx movement and the Downtown Halifax Business Commission.  Both have proven to be great resources for information, activities and ideas to help establish our business.

The fun thing about having been involved with both of these organisations is that they too believe in the importance of local businesses and can see why they benefit the local economy and community much more than faceless corporations do.  To keep up to date with all of these we'd really recommend that you follow both organisations on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/downtownhalifax/ and http://twitter.com/ILOVELOCALHFX.

One fun activity happening at the moment is the Downtown Halifax's Win What You Wish competition.  This is a great way for the great products and services available within the Downtown community to be showcased virally.  Getting involved couldn't be simpler and you get the opportunity to win things as well!  All you need to do is take a photograph of an item that you'd like from any of the Downtown businesses, share it with the tag #WinWhatYouWish.  As a side benefit, those people who always claim that your "So hard to shop for" will get a sneaky preview as to what you may actually like.

So ... what are you waiting for?  Get out there, get snapping and get sharing it on the internet!  To get some ideas as to what's out there, have a look at www.winwhatyouwish.ca.

Interviews with a designer ... David Rose - designer at SALT. Optics

At any of the international exhibitions we attend one of the greatest joys is in the discovery of new companies and those hidden gems which you were not aware of before.  SALT. were exactly one of those discoveries, we first met them at New York in April 2013 - Wow!

SALT.'s mission really sums up our feeling about their eyewear perfectly, "SALT. Optics is an independent
lifestyle company that creates premium handcrafted eyewear for people who like simple things made well."  To say that SALT. eyeglasses are made well is a huge understatement, quite simply their quality is unsurpassed.

In Paris this year we met with SALT. again to see their new collections and to find out even more about their company.  Designer David Rose was attending Silmo and it was too good an opportunity to miss, therefore, we are pleased that our next interview in this series is with David.

Here's our interview with David:

 What was your inspiration to become an eyewear designer?

Good question, while my surfing career was coming to an end, I picked up a warehouse gig with OSA (Optical Shop Aspen).  After about a week it was apparent that I was falling in love with eyewear.  I was surrounded by amazing brands and an array of different frame shapes, sizes, materials and applications.  Seeing all this was super positive and for years I just soaked everything up like a sponge.  Then in 2002 I was lucky enough to spend sometime working at Oliver Peoples and handle their production and manufacturing.  Although I never designed anything at OP, it was an exciting time to work closely with Larry and Patty in their design studio to find out whats coming up next, listen to their ideas about fashion and trend, as well as picking up on valuable reference points on why a DBL or temple length should be shortened or lengthened.  Then in 2006 I connected with Salt Optics through and old relationship with Ron Smith and have since been handling all their design and manufacturing.  Its been a fun and exhausting 16 years, but I wouldn't change it for the world.    

Harlan

Do you have an all time favourite frame that you designed?

Probably my favorite frame right now is Harlan.  I love the profile and
the use of Acetate and Titanium.  The vintage "line" detailing on the bridge gives the frame legacy but you can still dress this frame up or down.  I also think the color pallet and matte finishings have some staying power.








Which city would like to travel to next?

Halifax of course!

Is there a particular material that you would like working with or that you would like to work with?

Its so easy to think about using different materials or taking frames elsewhere but I really love the tradition of making hand made acetate frames in Japan.  The touch each craftsperson puts into a frame is so refreshing and authentic. The attention to detail is an investment in quality that will benefit for years to come.  Now that’s something special!

How long does the process take from initial design to finished eyewear?

It takes anywhere from 12-24 months. Some designs kinda just cross through waiting for a slot to open in the collection, like staple piece. While other might be excel excelerated because of fashion or trend.  

What influences do you draw on when creating your ranges?

I love shopping for vintage frames, especially in Japan.  I get a lot of inspiration from old catalogues of frames that aren't really made anymore.  But I feel like I get most my inspiration from experiencing the ocean, mountains and desert around southern & northern California.  Some of the culture that surrounds this area is really cool.    

Thank you David for taking the time to answer those questions.

More information about SALT. Optics can be found out here:

Website

Facebook       Twitter

And of course ... by coming in to Ocean Optometry!

Silmo 2013 - Part 3

Our third and last full day in Paris.  We are up early, keen to maximise our time there and really get the most from the show possible.  We travel to the show using the RER rail system, we feel that we've become quite the experts in this (or at least for the small section of it that we travel), but this morning it is different.  It is a Saturday and instead of being surrounded by smart commuters and office workers we are accompanied by families heading in to the city to enjoy all that Paris has to offer.  Unfortunately, this is not for us, we're headed to a big hall full of eye stuff ... I think I know what we'd rather be doing ... eye stuff!!

Espresso to start the day

We were at the exhibition so early that only the exhibitors were allowed to enter, ah well, time to grab a double espresso and prepare ourselves for the day's appointments.  We were scheduled to meet with Bellinger, Claire Goldsmith and Salt - all wonderful collections which offer something unique and special to the world of eyeglasses.

Finally nine o'clock comes around and we head for our first appointment with Bellinger.  Bellinger has a completely different approach to manufacturing eyewear, the acetate materials they use are completely unique to themselves and they have developed different ways of working the material (almost like kneading dough) which creates lively, flowing and dynamic colour patterns throughout their ranges.  As well as viewing the latest collections it was wonderful to spend some time with Claus Bellinger as he talks us through the various manufacturing processes involved.  It all seems to be a wonderful mix of engineering, science, art and creativity; the thought process applied to each frame in every collection makes sure that Bellinger is anything but a cookie cutter product.

Bellinger demonstration box showing different states of acetate right from cotton!

We now have a little time before meeting with David, one of the designers with Salt, and this window of opportunity makes for an ideal time to go and organise our second find of the show.  Another great eyewear range, which we will again tease you with by not telling you who!  Let's just say that this collection really Rocks!

Salt Optics was next on our agenda and we really do love Salt frames at Ocean Optometry, in fact, not only do we love them but our patients do too.  We have been blown away by the positive feedback about this range and it was great to go and sit with one of their designers and to be able to pass back so many good comments.  It was also great to find out more about David, similar to our own Dr John Wilson, his path into optics has not been the most straight forward.  In saying that, John was never a pro-surfer, like David, so perhaps there the comparison ends!

The new Salt pieces are quite simply beautiful.  We put together a great collection to bring back to Halifax really showcasing the best shapes and colours available.  Then it is an easy switch to our next appointment - Salt Optics had shared some of the Claire Goldsmith stand space!  So we moved one table over and lost ourselves in a world of classic, vintage and incredibly chic eyewear.

Claire is a great character and it was lovely to catch up with her again.

John, Claire Goldsmith, Euan

Given Claire's family history in eyewear design it would be far too easy to talk about things in terms of vintage and retro, however, the collection really would be better as being described as stylish, elegant, modern and classic.  However you want to describe them, these frames are fab!

We are done!

We walk around the show for another few hours, but with the appointments taken care of and some new finds in the bag both of us are starting to flag and the last few days are starting to catch up with us.  We head away from the show.  On our way back to hotel we decide to break the journey at Gare Nord and poke our heads above ground to catch a glimpse of Paris.  It was busy, with plenty of hustle and bustle, but we manage to grab a café and watch the street scene for a while.  A great time to go over all of the sights and experiences of the show for the two of us and consider how we want to bring back our own little bit of Paris to share with Nova Scotia!

Corn roaster on a busy street

One last inspiring sight was a street seller selling corn using a brazier in a shopping cart to roast it.  I couldn't help but think it would be lovely to have some fresh corn from the Valley to cook just in this style!

We knew that our time in Paris was drawing to a close, tomorrow morning we had an early transfer to the airport and then we would have to leave this European city behind.  It had been a great few days, very focused on the business of Ocean Optometry, selecting eyewear, being inspired, gaining knowledge and just generally immersing ourselves in all things eye geekery.  It left us wanting more and perhaps just regretting a little bit that we hadn't managed to do any of the great sights of the city while we were there.

We hope you've enjoyed reading all about our travels and sharing our visit to Silmo Paris.  For videos from the show, you can also visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/OceanOptom.

One final comment ... that night the dinner was French!

Silmo 2013 - Part 2

We were now getting in to the swing of things and gearing up for a busy show.  Taking our time over the first day to explore the halls, find the locations for our appointments already scheduled and start to find out any new and exciting suppliers was time well spent.  We had business to do, however, and now was the time to do it!

Moving on from Rolf, we headed to the ic! berlin stand.  As an innovative and imaginative company, visiting ic! berlin is always an exciting experience.  When we had spent time with them in New York there had been a live DJ provided a great soundtrack to the experience.  Paris is closer to their home in Berlin, so what was going to await us here?

We were not disappointed!

ic! berlin Stand at Silmo

At the back of the stand was a massive food truck in a very retro camper, shiny, bright and turning out quite amazing food!  The things they were doing with goats cheese was quite incredible.  Over at the other corner sat a car completely shrouded in black cloth - why?  Well you have to park it somewhere!  It was Ralph's own car (the owner and founder of ic! berlin) and he had driven it down to Paris for the show.

While the energy on the stand is excellent, the great thing with ic! berlin is that you know it is backed up by a great selection of eyewear.  Their ranges are unique, well designed, fabulously manufactured and manage to straddle the fine line between cutting edge and perfectly wearable exceptionally well.  The new electric colours available in the ranges were beautiful and selecting pieces to add to our collection in Halifax was easy, these frames won't hang around long!

What about the music?  There was no DJ this time, instead we were entertained by Friederich Liechenstein.  He's a German entertainer (apparently) and a bit of a YouTube celebrity, great fun to listen to and certainly knows how to entertain a crowd!  He's easy to find on YouTube:

After enjoying some wonderful German hospitality, we moved on to our next appointment.  This was one of our Silmo finds from the previous day and right now we are going to tease you a little and keep this one a secret.  We are hoping to have this range with us in early 2014, we have put together a fabulous selection and you know that they are going to bring something new to Nova Scotia if we have selected them, so please don't get all activist like on us and be patient!

Day two was almost complete, however, we had one last appointment to go to - TD Tom Davies.  When we had met with Nathan from TD at New York, twice we ended up leaving the show after the show had closed!  This time we had allowed plenty of time!  It was great to meet up with Nathan and Tom again and to also meet some of the other representatives who cover different parts of the world.  Meetings like this provide a great opportunity to share ideas with some very creative people.

When it comes to frame design and manufacture, there is no denying that Tom Davies has added something completely new and unique to the market.  Being able to say that we are the only company east of Toronto being able to offer this bespoke service really helps to set Ocean apart.  Choosing eyewear should be like choosing a tailored garment, we are all unique after all.  The meetings, though, are a great opportunity for a two-way dialogue and we were able to share a little of our knowledge and enthusiasm for lens technology with Tom as he is working through the process of developing a completely new line of sports eyewear.

A couple of hours later we were all done, new frames ordered, new sample colours organised, the show was closing and it was time to head back to the hotel.  It was a good day, a productive day, but a long day.

Tonight's dinner was in a Japanese restaurant!

Silmo 2013 - Part 1

Dr John Wilson and Dr Euan McGinty headed to Paris at the end of September to visit the Silmo 2013 exhibition.  Silmo is one of the eye events in the calendar each year and is a real destination event, alongside Mido in Milan and Vision Expo East in New York.  It was a big commitment to decide to take the time out of our diary to go and not something that John or Euan decided to do lightly, so, was it worth it?

While it might sound glamorous to say that we head to these shows, unfortunately the truth is quite different.  Travelling east to Europe invariably involves an overnight flight and our routing was even more frustrating as we had to first travel west for a couple of hours to connect via the big TO!  We were on our way, though!

On our way to Paris!

The morning that we arrived, we quickly cleared through French customs and immigration and headed directly to the show from the plane, there really is no time to lose.  Thankfully we had decided to keep our appointments to the minimum for the very first day, using the time to get our bearings and get adjust for the time zone.

In saying that we were looking at a range of beautiful hand crafted Japanese frames within forty minutes of arriving!  Choosing the eyewear ranges that we stock is a bit of a strange blend of business sense, science in manufacture, the art of the frame design and I guess it would only be right to say je ne sais quoi!  These frames weren't for us.

Jason & Karen Kirk

We continued to explore the exhibition halls, looking at frame collections, examining instrument and
technology developments and immersing ourselves in an atmosphere which is definitely an eye geek's heaven.  With great delight on the first day we also met with Jason and Karen Kirk who have moved on from twenty years of Kirk Originals to create Kirk & Kirk.  This definitely looks to be an exciting development by these eyewear innovators and something we are going to be keeping a very keen eye on.

With day one done, we were both flagging and it was time to find our hotel!  We both felt that the first day had been a great way to start our visit, we had discovered some exhibitors that we knew we wanted to re-visit and were excited for our upcoming appointments.

Tonight's dinner was in an Indian restaurant!

Day two started bright and early, well set up by a lovely French breakfast we ventured on to the Paris light rail system and navigated our way to the show.  Our first appointment was not until 11 am, so with a couple of hours to spare we set about exploring an area of the halls that we didn't get to the day before.  It may sound strange but with almost a thousand exhibitors in 80,000 square metres of floor space, this is quite the show.

Bernhard - Rolf Eyewear

The appointed hour came and we met with Bernhard from Rolf Eyewear.  We are incredibly excited to be working with Rolf Eyewear.  They are the masters of eyewear made from natural products and there is quite simply nothing that comes close to their frames.  We had ordered frames from Rolf when we met with them in March in New York (honestly, it only sounds glamorous!) and as of yet we had not received a single item from them.  So why were we meeting with them?

The initial frames we are stocking are made completely from wood, including the spring joint!  Manufacturing the frames is a lengthy process and this was something we were aware of from the outset.  So we had arranged our meeting with a view to finding out what was also available, what was in development and also to look at ordering stock for the following six months.  We were not disappointed!  Rolf has mastered the art of eyewear in materials not just including wood, but also stone and buffalo horn.  While there may be other buffalo horn and wooden frame ranges available (one of our other favourites is Drift Eyewear) there simply is nothing like Rolf Eyewear's take on it.  You'll be amazed when you see them!

That took us through to beyond mid-day on the second day, so that's a perfect place to stop.  Find out more in Part 2!