Enhancing expertise, stimulating innovation and championing the sector: SILMO also promotes tomorrow’s talent with the Optical Design Contest. Open to design school students around the world, the third edition of the contest focuses on accessory glasses that, aside from correcting and protecting the wearer’s vision, explore new functionalities and uses.
Chaired by Olivier Jault and made up of optics and design professionals, the jury met at the start of July to assess the projects submitted from various design schools and select the most pertinent to the theme.
A renowned shoe designer, Olivier Jault joined the fashion and accessories sector after passing the entrance exams for the Duperré School of Applied Arts. With an applied arts degree in his back pocket, he presented his first shoe collection. He then collaborated with many prestigious brands such as Martin Margiela, Givenchy with Alexander McQueen, Saint-Laurent with Tom Ford, J.M. Weston, Repetto, Jean Paul Gaultier and many others. With a great passion for shoes, Olivier Jault is also co-commissioner of the “Jean-paul Gaultier pour Stéphane Kélian: Roman d’une rencontre” exhibition at the Shoe Museum in Romans-sur-Isère, which can be visited until 3 November 2024.
Jury members reviewed the projects, taking into account their creative, innovative design dimension and the proposed product’s use and function within the scope of the theme. The project’s feasibility, including the production of a 3D printed prototype, was also assessed.
The jury will meet at SILMO on the morning of 20 September to choose the winner from among the selected designs:
- DISTROAL by Thomas Deneufbourg – École de Design Nantes Atlantique
Glasses as support accessories for users that have specific needs, including people affected by disorders on the autism spectrum and anxiety disorders. Distroal means “calming’ in the Breton language.
- LUCID by Perrine Payen – Rubika
“Forgotten objects” like the pocket watch and the monocle are recycled and find a new life by being transformed into elegant magnifying glasses.
- RHOÉ by Theo Vanpoperynghe – ISD Rubika
An original designer device to help with eye strain.
- SOUND SIGHT by Nolan Guenot -Ecole Supérieur De Design de Troyes
Bone conduction glasses, proven technology that is reinvented here with an aerial aesthetic.
- SPECTAPOP by Camille Grand – ISD Rubika
Glasses with an uncompromising, attention-grabbing, fun design for visual hide-and-seek.
- VIEWPROJECT by Amélie MEERSSEMAN – École de design Nantes Atlantique
Innovative, designer protective eyewear, imagined as fit-over glasses for prescription eyeglass wearers.
We invite you to learn more about these innovative projects at SILMO Paris and join us in celebrating tomorrow’s optical design talent.
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