Eyewear with Nanyang Optical - Part 1: Glossi

I am fussy about my eyewear.

I have been wearing spectacles since I was seven, a good 26 years now. I tried contact lenses for a while, but I never really got used to them. Moreover, I have a large, round face which I like to downplay by accessorizing with eyewear.

My first contact with Nanyang Optical was through Get Singapore, a non-profit organisation set up to collectively market some quality Singapore brands under a major “Singapore brand” umbrella.

Nanyang Optical is more than just a spectacle store chain, they have invested much money and effort in R&D on eyewear designs and have launched a number of their own eyewear brands over the years.

Nanyang Optical is also the first eco-friendly eyewear chain in Singapore, launching eco-friendly eyewear made of recycled materials and implementing a full circle recycling system.

I buy about two new frames each year, so I can safely claim to have bought at least 52 frames over the years. The issue I have with spectacle designs are that they are mostly boring and uninspiring.

Two decades have passed and yet frame designs generally stayed the same – boring. Large plastic frames were the in thing a few years ago, followed by round tortoise-shell designs with gold trimming currently. These were the same stuff that were in many years ago. It is just a revisit of yesteryears’ designs. Uninspiring.

This is why I am pleasantly surprised by the good work a home-grown company, Nanyang Optical has done for eyewear, setting it sights to capture the world market with snazzier and unique designs.

Glossi is one of the eyewear brands under Nanyang Optical. I will blog about another two of their brands, Urband and Eyelet in subsequent posts for my Eyewear with Nanyang Optical series.

Glossi emphasizes on vibrant and bright colours:

The eyewear is made of a strong, flexible translucent plastic polymer that is glossy (mirror effect), light weight, durable and comfortable to wear. The two temples are joined to the top bar, and a frame front of a different color is joined to the top bar by nylon string stitching. The two-color combination creates a third visual dimension to the whole glossi eyewear with a unique see-through overlapping color effect at the top bar.

The frames are immediately recongisable because of these unique design features:

What I like about Glossi is that the frame looks simple and elegant from far, but upon a closer look, you discover the playful and fun part of it with the glossy effect at different angles. It is small design detailing like this that gets me excited.

I also like the functionality in the use of nylon string stitching for the joints. No more unsightly screws that tend to get loose or rusty over time. The thin nylon string allows for a slimmer overall design, without protrusion at the joints. Practical, yet aesthetically satisfying.

Here’s my pair of red Glossi spectacles which I got earlier this year, with lenses from Crizal by Essilor (read here to find out more about the benefits of Crizal lenses over other brands):