Press Release

Paris, France – October 3, 2018. A partnership between Materialise, designer Sébastien Brusset and L’Amy has seen a new eyewear range for automotive brand McLaren named ‘Frame Technological Innovation’ of the year at the 2018 Silmo d’Or Awards in Paris. The win is further evidence of 3D printing’s growing importance to the eyewear industry, and of Materialise’s commitment to advancing adoption of the technology.

Recognizing originality and quality in the optics and eyewear industry, the Silmo d’Or awards are widely regarded as ‘The Oscars of eyewear innovation’, with category champions viewed as best-practice, benchmark projects, not to mention trend indicators, for the eyewear market as a whole.

Demonstrating the adaptable and adventurous technical capabilities of 3D printing, L’Amy – with its McLaren Ultimate Vision range – won the award for ‘Frame Technological Innovation’. This category is dedicated to brands demonstrating exciting use of new techniques, materials and approaches in order to achieve new technological heights when creating frames.

Designer Sébastien Brusset of Jaw Studio worked on the new eyewear range for the famous automotive brand, collaborating with Materialise to ensure 3D printing played a key role in creating “perfect function” to reflect McLaren’s precision engineering reputation.

“With this range, our goal was always to make the ultimate eyewear that would function and fit perfectly without compromise,” explains Brusset. “That meant creating a frame that could be exactly tailored to the wearer – with contact points adjustable to the individual; a titanium frame for lightness and strength; blending different materials seamlessly for a high end finish. This combination of requirements meant we had to have 3D printing at the heart of our creation.

“Working with Materialise to optimize design, calling on the shapes and structural fluidity possible with additive processes, we have created a frame that holds and protects lenses perfectly for wearers, while also offering a super high-end, high-performance finish that blends cutting-edge technology with traditional hand-crafting.”
Sébastien Brusset, Designer, Jaw Studio

For Materialise’s Alireza Parandian, Head of Global Business Strategy for Wearables, the award reflects the current industry appetite for 3D printing.

“One of the biggest benefits of 3D printing is the design freedom it offers, in other words, the chance to uniquely reflect a brand’s DNA using innovative materials, material blends, shapes, finishes and flexibility. For us, the relevance of this for eyewear applications was always clear, which is why we have invested in developing a dedicated offering for this market.

“From researching and creating new materials (including expanding metal printing capabilities with eyewear-specific design in mind), building in-house eyewear engineering expertise and investing in dedicated manufacturing equipment, to helping brands develop digitization strategies to scale-up production and explore opportunities such as mass customization, we have made a strong commitment to the industry. So to see projects we have worked on, and partners we have worked with, gain such prestigious recognition is hugely exciting as it truly shows 3D printing is a technology driving the industry forward. And that we are playing a key role in helping that process.”