Each frame in the Blake Kuwahara Eyewear Collection has a unique inner silhouette encased in an unexpectedly fresh outer shape – an amazing feat of engineering.
In addition to being an optometrist, Kuwahara is also a student of architecture and furniture design. As such, the frames in his collection are named in homage to architects he admires – both past and present..
Each frame takes six months to produce, using laborious production techniques and handwork processes. The result is the seamless fusion of two separate frames and the juxtaposition of contrasting form and color that come together to create a design tension that is thoroughly modern yet comfortably familiar.
Blake Kuwahara's design inspiration was initially driven by aesthetics and a desire to fulfill his own design needs and those in his social circle. “Like many people I know, I straddle both the artistic and business worlds. Many of us struggled to find suitable eyewear, hence the prototype I designed for myself.” From that prototype came the inspiration and proverbial push for launching the Blake Kuwahara eyewear brand – a collection of frames that are a mash-up of Blake's colliding aesthetics with special attention paid to sculpting and tactility. They are artful, but wearable.
Recognized as one of the “100 Most Important People in the Eyewear Industry”, Blake Kuwahara launched his exclusive eponymous range of sunglasses and optical frames in Fall 2014. Kuwahara's bold experimentation and innovation have gained him a following in the fashion world. He has been profiled in Vogue, ELLE, Bazaar, GQ, In Style, and Esquire and has been seen on E!, Access Hollywood, MTV, and CNN. Detour magazine called him, “a gifted talent, blessed with savvy and an unmistakable sense of style.”
Stop by Artisan Optics and explore the eyewear of Blake Kuwahara.
Blake Kuwahara Gallery