We Love Yellows Plus

Our favourite Japanese design house "Yellows Plus" makes frames of exceptional quality and it's hard to look past their attention to detail in their latest combination acetate/titanium range.

Introducing The New Range - Barriqule

We're excited to introduce the new range "Barriqule" from Italy.

Founder, Lorenzo Del Tufo, saw enormous potential in the matured oak barrels used to refine wine and decided to recycle them into an eyewear range. 

Each frame boasts individually hand sculpted oak temples and Barriqule's frame fronts are beautifully crafted from vibrant cotton based acetate, softened with a matte finish.

Soft and Subtle

Soften your look with Garrett Leight's luxurious pink crystal sunglasses. 

Crystal is The New Black

Calm it down or dress it up, crystal is the new black. Most of our designers are featuring crystal hues this season.

Introducing Carnaby

Introducing Carnaby, the new sunglass design from Oliver Goldsmtih. 

Closely related to the Casper from the Icons collection, the Carnaby has all of Casper's interesting detail and combines a slimmed down silhouette with slightly softer edges than its iconic relative

                                   

Timeless Cool

From the monocle to rimless frames - glasses have come an incredibly long way. With trends constantly changing it's often difficult to know what's hot and what's not.Round frames are timeless and continue to look great, even as styles change.Professors, hipsters, writers - Since the 1920s, individuals from all walks of life have been wearing cool round frames. They're still as relevant today as they were 90 years ago

Glasses of the Week: Less is More

Business Manager Fiona Merritt is sensational in this classic 1950's inspired titanium/acetate combination frame by Japanese designer Toshiaki Yamagishi. Yamagishi's brand Yellows Plus belongs to the less is more school adding freshness to classic retro.

Martin x Martin

Martin & Martin are one of our bestselling brands, and with good reason. This German duo (both men named Martin, of course) utilise their nation's reputation for precision work and engineering to create frames that are functional, minimal and beautiful to look at.

Martin & Martin frames are made exclusively in Cologne, Germany using Italian Mazzucchelli acetate and their own patented counter-levered hinge system

"Arthur" in Matte Black Sand

"Malte" in Havana Gunn Matte

"Johann" in Black Transparent

"Paul X" in Matte Brown Sand

"Tobias" in Matte Blue Sand

Glasses of the Week

Rita Luck knows a thing or two about rock & roll and she is definitely rocking her new Cutler & Gross glasses in honey tortoiseshell!

Mazzucchelli Zyl Acetate

Mazzucchelli (mat-su-keli) is produced in Italy, and is considered the highest grade of acetate in the world, on a par with Japanese Zyl Acetate . The company Mazzucchelli 1849 has been making acetate for 160 years and is used by the top independent brands in eyewear such as Claire Goldsmith, Cutler & Gross and Garrett Leight, to name a few.

Zyl acetate is tough, with a deep gloss and high transparency. It possesses a feel that is often described as more natural than other plastics due to it consisting of 80% cotton fibre and 20% polymers, which explains its consistent popularity as a material for items that are handled frequently such as spectacle frames and tool handles. Zyl acetate can also achieve colour effects that are beyond injection moulding - as the frames are hand cut from slabs of zyl, each frame that is patterned (like tortoiseshell or leopard) has a unique pattern just as with tiles of marble. Acetate is desirable for its feel, colour, luster, strength and ability to be shape, and is made entirely from renewable resources.

The zyl acetate process goes something like this:

Purified cellulose from cotton fibre is mixed with powder and solvents and passed through filters until forming a fine sheet of transparent paste. Organic colour pigments are mixed with acetone and applied directly onto the acetate and worked into the surface. An artisan then passes the coloured acetate through a roller several times, finely spreading the colour evenly throughout. For a patterned sheet, this same process is repeated using a different colour for each sheet, which are then layered together and passed back through the rollers. The compressed layers of acetate are then mixed together in a random pattern and cut into small pieces. These pieces are then pressed together to form a block of random patterning ready to be trimmed into frames.

All of our frames at Michael Holmes Premium Eyewear are made using either Japanese or Mazzucchelli zyl acetate. Unless they are titanium of course, but we'll save that story for another day.

Anna McCarthy in SALT 'Clark'

You don't become sales manager for a clothing label unless you have a great sense of style. So when Anna McCarthy of surf label Rusty needed a new pair of glasses, she aptly chose the SALT 'Clark' in Black Tortoise. 

This bold classic is distinctive enough to stand out in the crowd, yet versatile enough to suit any outfit in Anna's trendy wardrobe.

Albert, Lukas, Lawrence and Oscar Kightley

New Idea, January 9th 2012 (Click to enlarge).
Oscar's character Albert wears Martin & Martin 'Lukas' (Left),
while Oscar himself wears Zero G 'Lawrence' (Right).

With the upcoming premiere of Sione's 2 this month, we felt it would be fitting to do a feature on the talented actor, writer and comedian Oscar Kightley. A few months back, Oscar's character Albert was in need of some new glasses for the much awaited sequel to Sione's Wedding. Here at MHPE we were given the privilege to work alongside Oscar and costume designer Kirsty Cameron in choosing a new pair of frames for Albert.

Martin & Martin 'Lukas' was the winning frame - an angular, bold number in Black with Crystal temples, which compliments the sensible character of Albert and looks very smart when teamed with a suit and tie.

Oscar Kightley in Martin & Martin 'Lukas'

As Michael is now Oscar's optometrist, we were more than happy to sort out Oscar with some glasses of his own, too. Out of the spotlight, Oscar now wears the Zero G 'Lawrence' in Black surgical-grade titanium - one of the toughest, most flexible and lightweight metals available for eyewear. It's a different look for Oscar, but we think it suits him just as well.

Oscar in his own Zero G 'Lawrence'

Sione's 2 comes out on the 19th of January and we can't wait to see it. We plan to don our best jandals and head along to the premiere. Hopefully we'll see Oscar there in his new Zero Gs!

The 'mark of a great eyewear designer

'No bullshit - just passion and aluminium,' says Jacob Kilsgaard. He doesn't do bells and whistles or frills. In true Danish style (just like Lindberg), Jacob Kilsgaard would rather create simple, honest and tasteful eyewear.

Jacob's plan to design eyewear that doesn't stand out has had quite the opposite effect. Since beginning the Kilsgaard collection in 2008, he's won the IF Product Design Award and the Red Dot Design Award, proving that in a world full of loud and attention-seeking eyewear, simple, understated designs are the ones that really stand out.

The Kilsgaard collection features aluminium fronts and acetate temples in a range of stunning colours. These frames are lightweight (think empty beer cans, but much classier) and have a very cool matte finish.

Here are a few of the beautiful designs and colours just in at MHPE.