Optika Sole
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TAVAT campaign portrait wearing round sunglasses against a rocky landscape

California-designed eyewear, made in northern Italy

About the brand

An independent house from the foothills of the Dolomites in northern Italy, founded in 2010 by Jeremy Baines. It is designed in California and made in small batches by craftsmen in northern Italy. It is known for the SoupCan series, drawn from 1930s aviator goggles, and for its own patented hinge. One SoupCan frame passes through more than a hundred hand steps in five places and takes up to nine months.

Origin
Italy
Material
Acetate · metal
Runs
Small batches

A hundred steps, five workshops

One SoupCan frame passes through more than a hundred hand steps in five different workshops, and nine months can pass between drawing and finished piece.

The hinge is patented and trademarked.

Where the name SoupCan comes from

The name came from an old poster in a hangar. It showed a group of 1930s pilots who put on weekend airshows and called themselves “The Flying Burritos”. Their crude goggles looked as if cut from a soup can, and the whole method of construction grew from that image.

TAVAT campaign portrait wearing yellow-tinted glasses
TAVAT Motus close-up of a metal frame against a light background