Garrett Leight California Optical _ interview with Garrett Leight

Ci troviamo nella costa californiana, a Venice Beach, il sole splende fra un giro in surf e un aperitivo sulla spiaggia; quando sogniamo la California pensiamo a tutto questo. Garrett Leight viene ispirato da questo luogo per dare vita alla sua linea di occhiali. Stile retrò e slowlife ispirano le forme degli occhiali Garrett Leight California Optical. Le montature richiamano gli anni '50 e '60, ricche di dettagli esclusivi e ricercati, uniscono il sapore vintage al design contemporaneo. I colori pastello sono delicati,eleganti ed essenziali. Di seguito vi propongo un intervista con il fondatore di GLCO, Garrett Leight.

Who’s behind Garrett Leight California Optical? 

Our employees are our most import asset. Every single person that works here contributes to the brand message and our customers experience. We promote a culture of happiness with a focus to be the most valued eyewear brand experience on the market. Specifically, I am the CEO, Creative Director, and Marketing Director which means I'm responsible for quite a bit. But there are also key people that keep this company's wheels moving in the same direction and the right direction.

Design & Development Director Elena Doukas Chief Operating Officer Lynn Plummer Finance Director Bruce Littell Director of Operations Heather Eisner. All of these people are essential to the company's growth and success from a high level.

How was GLCO born? Which values does the brand want to transmit?

We believe in making the highest quality eyewear for the best price. We also believe in California and being inspired by the iconic characters and their style from generations past.

We work hard to tell this story in a modern day setting. The company was born because I love this industry and I'm obsessed with vision. I felt that there was nothing out there for me.

So instead, I created it.

California is an hotbed of creative minds, different inspirations and cultures coexist there. GLCO was born in this context: how does it influence it?

It plays a huge role in who we are. We continue to pull inspiration from California as it is today, but also how it was in the past. It inspires the designs we create as well as the story we are telling through our magazine publication and online content we create. We are very Californian.

At MIDO you presented the SS15 collection: can you tell us which pieces are cult and what’s the inspiration behind this collection?
We like to offer our customers new ways to wear their favorite frames. Whether that means adding new acetate colors in classic frames or new mirrored lenses or stripping down a frame to resemble one of our classic frames but with completely different material. The frame that best represents this idea is the Van Buren. Which is inspired by our Harding frame which was inspired by Arthur Miller. Instead of making it in plastic, we decided to take the shape and make it thin metal and make it folding because we love functionality. That is what this collection is about.