Natural spectacles

Enzo Forciniti's profession is written, so to speak, in his face: the 32-year-old is wearing a very discreet pair of wooden-framed spectacles. Forciniti designed and made the frames himself and he has opened a small shop in the eastern German city of Leipzig to sell them. Things are going well, according to the designer.
"We have more orders than I can complete right now," says the professionally trained graphic artist. Spectacle frames made from natural materials such as wood and bamboo are in high demand. Forciniti thought of the idea of making spectacle frames from wood two years ago. "It came to me as I was standing in an optician's and was looking for new glasses." He immediately began work on a design. The first samples were rather primitive. "They were much too thick, way too heavy and very ugly," he says. They were also very brittle.
"They fell apart on their own. I didn't even need to drop them on the ground." After some trial and error, Forciniti decided to make the frames the same way skateboards are made. Up to nine thin layers of wood are glued and pressed together to make one sheet of wood. The individual frame parts are then cut from this plywood.
Forciniti says it's very important that everything is made by hand. "I don't use a computer-controlled machine to cut the wood. A machine could cut the wood in a minute, whereas I need a couple of hours," he says. "But then I would only be standing watching a machine cut my frames. I didn't want that." Kerstin Kruschinski from Kuratorium Gutes Sehen, a trade body promoting quality spectacles, says frames made from natural materials are very popular right now.
"There's definitely a trend towards sustainability, towards nature. You can see that trend in spectacles as well." Wood may look heavy but it's not, according to Kruschinski. "Wooden frames are very light and comfortable to wear and they look well on a face." But there's one thing wooden frames are not: cheap. Enzo Forciniti's spectacle frames begin at 800 dollars excluding lenses. "I know that's a lot of money. It's expensive compared to what most people buy. But if you think about how much work has gone into making the frames it's worth it," says the designer. Each frame is unique and made from either walnut or olive wood.