SYLVANUS URBAN Sylvanus Urban - The Edge Issue | Page 30

Double Double VISION VISION ICONIC EYEWEAR FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO SEE AND BE SEEN FIRST THINGS FIRST, WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO? My name is Blake Kuwahara, and I’m an eyewear designer. THERE IS A STRIKING DUALITY TO YOUR FRAMES. FROM AFAR THEY APPEAR TO HAVE A CLASSIC SILHOUETTE, THEN UP CLOSE THEY ARE TOTALLY BADASS. WHERE DID YOU DRAW INSPIRATION FOR THIS CONCEPT? 29 I was trying to bring this dual sense of design into one frame. To design, as you put it, a little badass attitude to the frames but also have frames that are approachable and wearable. I was shopping one day, and I saw this antique wooden stool encased in a crystal lucite block, and I thought "what a brilliant way to combine two different aesthetics into one unit." The challenge was “how would I do that” with eyewear. The process we developed was to literally make two separate frames and laminate them The Edge together. The inside silhouette tends to be very wearable, very approachable; while the outside silhouette, which is a little bit more crystalline, is only seen as you get closer. From far away it looks like you’re wearing something very familiar but when you get up close… IF THE EYES ARE THE WINDOW TO THE SOUL, WHAT DOES YOUR EYEWEAR SAY ABOUT YOU? I’d like to think it says I’m discriminating; I have a sense of S y l va n u s - U r b a n . c o m