Materialise and Safilo Group have joined forces to create beautiful sculptures for the stunning 3D printed OXYDO SS 2017 eyewear collection. 

Are you ready to wear glasses with bright 3D printed structures around the frames? If so, you may be interested in a collaboration between Italian eyewear company Safilo Group and 3D printing specialists Materialise.

The companies are teaming up on a 3D printed eyewear capsule collection called OXYDO SS 2017. Materialise is pitching the collection as “wearable sculptures”, which is abundantly clear from the funky designs. Safilo’s designs offer classic shapes, such as the cat-eye, with an artistic twist to create such unique sculptures.

However, 3D printing also offers glasses wearers more comfort, due to being able to create lightweight designs with interesting geometries. New York-based artist Francis Bitonti, who collaborated with OXYDO for design, said:

“We focused on leveraging the capabilities of 3D Printing to produce very fine ornamentation while keeping a very minimal silhouette. We were interested in how the next generation of ornamentation might look.”

3D Printing Classic Italian Designs from Safilo Group

Materialise’s Certified Additive Manufacturing facility has many machines specifically for eyewear production. This is where they print Safilo’s designs using Polyamide 12.

After printing, a multi-step Materialise Luxura post-production treatment polishes up the eyewear. Alireza Parandian, head of wearables projects at Materialise, explains:

“It is always our goal at Materialise to not only meet industry standards but to raise them. With Safilo, and their leadership in the eyewear industry, we have found a partner that values this goal equally… The eyewear industry and Additive Manufacturing have built a symbiotic relationship, where each helps the other raise its standards and challenge expectations constantly. I’m looking forward to where this partnership leads next.”

The launch of this collection looks like the beginning of a beautiful relationship between Materialise and Safilo.

Safilo isn’t the only eyewear company to collaborate with Materialise, however. Belgian brand Cabrio has also created some stunning 3D printed designs recently, which you can read about here.

Source: Press Release