Designed Eyes

I thought I would add some more photos from our trip to Japan last year. Sabae is the city where the majority of optical frames are made in Japan. Inside the Fukui Optical Association’s headquarters is the “Megane Museum” (megane means glasses in Japanese). It was really interesting seeing all the old machines from the turn of the last century and the fantastic array of old frames displayed.

Typically Japanese style the workers would sit on the floor cross legged at the wooden bench to do their work.

Frames certainly have come a long way! Early last century the choice was….round, oval, big round, small round, large oval, small oval! Terrific craftsmanship though!

Here is another pic from our trip to Sabae, optical city in Japan last year. Sabae is the centre of optical frame making in Japan. On the main expressway into the you are left with no doubt about what they do there!

Sabae is a city on the Japan Sea in around the middle of the main island of Honshuu. It has about 69000 residents, of which around 5000 are directly employed in the business of making optical frames, lenses and associated machinery. We love Japanese frames because they really have a quality which is a cut above the rest. Last year we visited Sabae and had the fortune to meet some really interesting people. Below is a picture of Mr Nishino, who still makes frames by hand and has been doing so for the best part of 50 years. We love and appreciate this traditional craftsmanship which still persists throughout Japan.

Linda owns a vintage clothing business here in Rosebud and came by this genuine Italian made vintage frame which is possibly 1950s or early 1960s. After a bit of TLC we fitted new progressive lenses for Linda and she is very happy with the result! The frame is a classic and well worth re-glazing. We often do restoration jobs on vintage/classic frames. In particular, frames from the 1940′s to 1960′s which have high gold content lend themselves very well to this type of restoration. They can easily be welded/ repaired and polished bringing them back to near new.

Linda in her re-glazed vintage framesVery cool detailVery cool detailVery cool detail

We have a great idea for father’s day! It is a hands free magnifier from Eschenbach. It clips onto your glasses and is great for those times when you to see any object in great detail. Ideal for any craft work or reading very fine print. Every dad who wears glasses will love having one of these!

Eschenbach clip on magnifyers have a huge range of uses

We’d like to thank all of our loyal customers for their support during our start up period. It has exceeded our expectations so we’re very happy so far. I’ve added a photo of what the shop looks like now.

Designed Eyes is now located at Shop 16, 967 Point Nepean Road, Rosebud. This is an exciting new venture for us as it heralds a new beginning for our business. We now have optometry (eye testing) services available as well as a much larger range of frames as well as the usual spectacle making services as we have always had. In a sea of large corporate optical companies we are a small fish in a large sea. The large corporates have lost touch with the community and the core of our business which is great service, and professional advice. We’re proudly old fashioned in that way! For the best in optical services please come in and take advantage of what we can do for you!

Designed Eyes, Rosebud

OK everyone, here’s the deal. Independent optical retailers (both opticians and optometrists), and independent optical wholesalers are under threat of extinction. We need to spread the word quickly that this is the case. As it is now, well over 50% of the Australian retail optical market is foreign owned. That’s right. So if you buy your glasses and contact lenses at OPSM, Budget Eyewear, Laubman and Pank (all owned by Italian company Luxottica) or Specsavers (Britrish owned) then the profits all get sent back overseas. Australian technology suffers and jobs diminish because the big foreign companies get their stuff made overseas (mainly China).  So please tell your friends this important information. OPSM is not an Australian company and neither is Specsavers. Keep the money in the country and buy your glasses at your local independent optical professional!

This is a common misconception amongst the non optical community. If you avoid wearing glasses because you believe they make your eyes weaker we suggest that you think again! In all likelyhood all you are doing is making your life difficult. Who wants to go through life not being able to see clearly for every task they want to do? Please click on the link for more information. http://www.abc.net.au/health/thepulse/stories/2006/04/27/1623215.htm

More people seem to be opting for ready made reading glasses these days. They are happy to compromise their vision to save money.  For some this approach can work but for many it will fail dismally. Let me outline why.

There are many aspects to vision correction that are completely missed by the general public, and I’ll use a real example to illustrate. I met an old friend at a re-union the other day who proudly showed me his $9 glasses that he was wearing for distance vision. Sure enough they were single vision glasses, which means that at the age of 46 as he is, those glasses could not possibly be functioning well for him. At a glance the glasses appeared to be about +1.00 or +1.50. If his distance vision is good and doesn’t require correction, at age 46 that +1.00 or +1.50 might be good for near use, but near use only. If he can see well at distance with them which appeared to me to be what he was using them for, then there’s no way they could be good for near. The other option is that he can use them at near at a pinch but they will be blurring his vision at distance. So no matter what,  there is no way he can be attaining optimal vision at all working distances. At 46 this is now impossible given the power of the lenses that he seemed to be happily wearing!  He seemed to scoff at the concept of paying $300 for custom made prescription lenses when he can buy them for $9 at the supermarket! If he wears the $300 dollar ones for two years that’s 50 cents per day for perfect clear vision. Life is too short to for this sort of tight fisted nonsense! And given what his distance vision might be with those self prescibed spectacles, his life or someone elses may well end up shorter than expected!