May 2009 Entries

I get new prototypes almost every day. My desk to my right is a bloody mess as I am over-run with spectacles I don’t know what to do with. Sometimes I only look at a new frame for two seconds, know that it was not good enough and move on. Sometimes I spend an hour poring over a new frame, looking at every angle, line and finish. 
 Today was one of those moments. 
 Actually, I got 10 prototypes today, but these three made me stop in my tracks!
 
First are the Loupes. These are actually for Zeiss surgical Loupes. I’ve designed them to take heavy lenses, have adjustable sports nose fittings and grip super tight around the head. There are areas to attach lights to and, overall, I think they are FANTASTIC. So much so that a tinted lens and..... sports frame? (focus Tom focus!)
 
Also, this is v naughty of me but I can’t resist. This is a first look at the new T joint launching in two months' time. I don’t suppose I need to say any more about that!


I just have to share some of the new frames with you, I can’t contain myself! These landed on my desk yesterday morning and now I’ve made my decisions about what to do with them, I just can’t put them in a box until they start to appear in the collection in September.
Now three months is a long time in TD land, normally I’m designing frames for launch a matter of weeks away. However, in this case, I wanted to carefully consider these tentative steps. Why?
1.       New colours. I need to add some colour to the collection, I love colour but I’ve always been nervous of adding it to Tom Davies since... well, it is complicated. I suppose - if I’m honest - it is because I’ve not been brave enough. Well, that has all changed and here is a selection of colours I’ve been developing these past few months.
2.       New ladies styles. Our collection has been dominated with male styles. It was never deliberate, it just turned out that way as, every time I tried to create a pure ladies style... .it sort of turned out masculine. Again, this has changed and for the past six months you may have noticed the feminine influence in my work. Well, that influence comes from Opticians and the fact that they are re-designing my collection for me. Finally, our sales are 52% Male and 48% Female and so this collection really represents the next step.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I did stop (for about three seconds) and think, do I want to be showing these early designs? Well, I’ve already changed them for the actual collection and I’ll only use three of the colours (which I created) so by the time anyone copies us..... we will be on to the fourth collection. Can any other company release a new collection every month?


Today I received our first horn frames (and promptly broke the rim on one of them, popping out the lens). However, I can say I am delighted. They are stunning. The frame here is 100% certain to find its way in to the Silmo collection in a few months. Prudence tells me to test test test, since I keep hearing horror stories about horn, but it doesn’t seem to match our experience in our testing (although I suppose I did just snap the first one!).....
 


Anyway, I couldn’t resist sharing these first look pics of the horn frames and, since I’m currently designing lots of new stuff, I thought I’d post a picture of my desk, as a reminder to myself that we need a bigger studio (to accommodate my desires for a giant desk).
 
 
Last night I took three of our best accounts out for dinner to learn about the business and their experiences of Bespoke.
 
Here are my headline key learnings:
 
  • Our 6 base frames should have slightly more frame bow on them.
  • They would like glazing instructions on the lenses; i.e. the lens should be glazed to the front bevel (my personal preference and how the frames are set up)
  • They love the idea of coming to the studio to design their own frames exclusive to their shop
  • They need more training on TDConnect
  • They praised Ashley (their customer service person) for knowing the product and following the detail
  • They wanted to see someone in store once per month to top up their TD knowledge and show them new frames.
  • They like cocktails and get drunk very easily