Tuesday, 26 June 2007 |
Consider it an antidote to the mass-produced “designer” fashions of
Target and Wal-Mart. CoLab, an eyewear accessory collaboration, hand
selects talented “street artists” from all over the world to become
CoLab professors. These wisemen of design infuse their artistic
aesthetic into the humble sunglass frame, creating a tantalizingly
unique summer accessory.
CoLab is a brand-new venture out of Australia with the aim of creating matchless art disguised as fashion. For the
Spring/Summer 2007 season, CoLab invited Perks and Mini (PAM) of
Australia, EBoy of Germany, Geoff McFetridge of the US, Rockin’
Jellybean of Japan, and Neasden Control Center of the UK into their
“Colaboratory” to create inspired eyewear. Each pair will be sold as a
limited edition, with no more than 1000 pairs of each design sold. Come
next season, CoLab will select an entirely different slew of artists.
Each artist has contributed anywhere from three to five designs,
culminating in a CoLab portfolio of 20 sunglass designs. Despite the
commerciality of fashioning art into sunglasses, the project is
inherently appealing to the underground artist as CoLab dictates:
“There is no constraint, no rules to follow, no target market to
appease.”
The designs intimately reflect this freedom, from blue goggle-shaped
“Eyes” frames by PAM, to decal-ridden EBoy shades, to vintage inspired
oglers by Rockin’ Jellybean.
The tragically hip lenses can be found through worldwide stockists,
most notably, Paris’s Colette, which became CoLab’s first global
stockist in January of this year.
In its distinctive pursuit, CoLab has created a brand without a brand –
a welcome respite to those beleagured by the choice: Ray-Bans or
absurdly-priced “designer” shades. By L. Harper
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CoLab - Inspired Eyewear 
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