I met Sandie, Bruno’s London-based partner at Chaussignand Lunettes, through one of the brand’s ambassadors, Erik Munro (see in series of pictures to the bottom of this feature). In fact I believe Erik was wearing his Bruno Chaussignand glasses when I met him. Shortly after I had a good chat with Sandie at one of our recent events (see video for her interview), and we had a very exciting talk. Sandie came to the SQUA.RE office for a full insight of her brand’s inspiring range and history.
Sandie makes a point that Bruno Chaussignand Lunettes are only available in select and independent eyewear stores. They are quality sunglasses and therefore ‘have a price’. Everybody the brand works with on the retail side can explain why they are quality sunglasses and where they come from. This is very important since as Sandie recalls, “everything is a question of history!” In smaller shops people have the time to learn. In London, the glasses can be found in all areas that matter: Marylebone High Street (at the newly opened Mallon + Taub), Saint John’s Wood (at Schuller‘s), Sloane Square (at Michel Guillon‘s), Covent Garden (at the gorgeous small boutique Spex and the City) – “we tried to be in all the nicest areas of course” as Sandie says. In New York, the glasses are in a store that truly reflects their brand: an art gallery meets luxury eyewear store on Washington Street in the Meatpacking called Art See. Full list of global stores is available here.
Because Bruno Chaussignand have an “accessories” side of them, they work a lot through collaborations. Even though this is still in the making and rather unofficial yet, they are collaborating with a jewellery creator, who has a big name in Russia, in the UK and in the Middle East, and who also is an artist. He creates magnificent works of art around precious gems. Simultaneously they create the eyewear. Eventually the glasses become a work of art and it goes much beyond the traditional glasses. Today, people want to buy quality and the importance of the brand decreases. This approach reflects the market’s will to focus on quality before label, and on timeless pieces versus any form of branding or trend of the moment. This is what Bruno Chaussignand offers.
Sandie is not really interested in optical magazines for her brand. She would much rather focus on consumer magazines such as Marie Claire above or Wallpaper Magazine who also recently featured Bruno Chaussignand in a prominent part of their 40 Fabs. The magazine selected a vast array of products across 40 countries and featured them all in one issue. Sandie finds them much more interesting: it places her brand into a world of design, accessories, even hospitality and really in the ‘beautiful pieces category‘.
Prices range from £286 upwards. Sandie showed me the full collection in the office. Different models are availble from the more traditional ones to the ‘funkier’ ones, while always keeping the high end quality approach. As Sandie reminded me, “luxury doesn’t mean boring“. Different frame and shade colours and styles are also available, making the possible combinations limitless. Sandie and Bruno Chaussignand are working on a come back to the 80s trend of the mirror shades — the typical “cocktail sunglasses”. Not only did I love the classic and genuinely tasteful design but the squared logo obviously feels very familiar to us at SQUA.RE, and for all the good reasons. The shape of their pieces is at the same time very flat for the screens, inspired by the old black and white tv screens, but they also feature proper shapes with raised patterns for the frames, which means that unlike many other classic models, there is a three-dimensional approach to the design. There is a huge amount of design work behind them, and a huge amount of technological work in making them as light as can be on the nose.
The glasses are manufactured in the Jura region of France. Bruno started in his concept store of Montpellier about 7 years ago. There are no glasses in the store as it is all made to measure, similarly to the haute couture approach in fashion. “Our vision is about purity of design, in line with Apple’s pure brand image, and it is about the symbols of success in work and life mixed with an attitude of pleasing yourself with an exceptional product, as an Aston Martin is to the car world. We also like to keep our ties with the world of the movies and film personalities, based on a close network of real connections from our ongoing trips to Los Angeles. It is purely for people who appreciate beautiful things.”
Pingback: uberVU - social comments
Those eye wear looks really cool. They have different designs and style.