our mission

Our focus is delivering the best value for money in the world, bar none.

Our design vision is to create beautiful, modern and iconic products made with the best and most responsible materials that never go out of style. We oversee every single step of the process from start to finish to ensure that we only ever produce products that we’d be proud to show our friends and family.

Our frames are designed in Sydney and responsibly constructed by hand using premium materials and methods from around the world. But how do we offer these frames from just $145?

design process

Our design vision is to intuitively honour the past while provoking the future.

Our Sydney-based team begins with research and observations from international runways, street style and findings from World Global Style Network researchers. By visiting leading fashion destinations, they are able to inform our direction by exploring how other markets and cultures are thinking. Our team draw inspiration from bygone eras; articles that are on the cusp of obsolescence that can be adapted for the modern era. Our design vision is to intuitively honour the past while provoking the future. The result is timeless glasses that are stylish forever. Once our design team has created their initial blueprints, they’re sent to specialised engineers who provide modified drawings of the prospective products before we review, revise and refine. The factory then makes a prototype that we test for fit, size, shape and proportion with our extensive wear tests. We then undergo colour sampling with our updated designs before orders are checked off and quality controlled.

OUR MATERIALS

Although we’re obsessive about making beautiful products, function always comes before fashion.

Our acetates are made by a family-owned Italian company; Mazzuchelli, who develop our kaleidoscopic tortoiseshells to our translucent crystals. Acetate is natural and malleable; ideal for heating and cooling to get the perfect fit.

The process of making our acetate begins by mixing coloured organic pigment with a clear paste made of cotton powder and other bonding ingredients. A skilled artisan places the material in a roller which goes through a meticulous process of slicing, folding and rerolling until the colour has spread evenly across the sheet. Intricate patterns like our tortoiseshells and horns contain multiple colours, and in these instances, each part of the acetate must be created individually to ensure the vibrancy and tone are perfect. Once the strips are ready, they’re layered together, placed in a machine and cut horizontally and then vertically to form compact pieces, the chips are then placed in a mold in a randomised pattern. The mold is clamped shut and under extreme pressure the individual pieces are formed into a block. 24 hours later, the mold is opened and the block is revealed, and at this stage, it’s finally ready to be cut into one of our custom acetate sheets. The result: hypoallergenic, vegan, strong, high-quality, beautiful acetate.

Although we’re obsessive about making beautiful products, function always comes before fashion. Polishing our acetate is a seven day process (twice the industry standard), we design all our temples with a slight outward flare for ease when slipping them on, we ensure the maximum level of strength by removing thickness in unnecessary areas and bolstering breadth in others. Our metal components including hinges and custom wire cores are intricately designed by German engineers before being crafted at their factory in Shenzhen. From our custom wire cores and the BN wordmark to our face shape engravings and wave pattern (an homage to coastal roots)—no detail is spared.

MANUFACTURE

We love merging traditional craft with modern techniques and adding details that will be discovered over time.

The two dots that can be seen on the front-facing temples of many of our glasses are where the hinges are riveted for optimum strength. These pins are stamped in individually and manually, just another example of how we take a bit more time to get a better result by employing time-old techniques. The shape and design of our five-barrel hinges were created exclusively by us; safety screws are coated in nylon to separate metals for smoother movement and functionality over a longer period of time, requiring less maintenance and adjustments. Despite the industry standard of printing brand names on acetate frames with a pad print method which inevitably peels away over time, we engrave ours and fill the impression with a steadfast paint to ensure the logo is embedded for clarity, consistency and durability. We love merging traditional craft with modern techniques and adding details that will be discovered over time.

HOW WE DO IT

So, how can products that are meticulously designed in Sydney, responsibly constructed by artisans with premium materials and methods from around the world be so affordable?

Well, that’s actually the simple part. We’re fully integrated. We own and operate all our stores with no middle men in sight. This allows our store staff to have direct, tight knit relationships with our head office team, meaning we can receive feedback about our products straight from customers to the store staff to our design and merchandise teams, unlike wholesalers or companies with franchise models.