Issey Miyake Just Made Sunglasses With Eight Lenses - Yanko Design

"Four lenses sit on each side of the frame, arranged in sequence to mimic the overlapping scale motifs found in Kamoda's pottery. Each lens features a concave cut, meaning they curve inward rather than outward. That engineering decision is clever. By pulling the lenses inward, they can sit close together without the whole structure ballooning into something unwearable."

"The 3D-printed frame goes through a finishing process that intentionally leaves slight surface variations intact. No two pieces are perfectly uniform. That part matters because it mirrors the very thing Kamoda was known for in his ceramics: surfaces that resisted smooth perfection. What could have been a production quirk becomes a design language, a deliberate echo of the source material."

Issey Miyake Eyes released UROKO, an eight-lens sunglasses design that reimagines conventional eyewear by featuring four lenses on each side arranged to mimic overlapping scale motifs from Japanese potter Shoji Kamoda's ceramic work. The name 'uroko' means scale in Japanese, directly connecting the eyewear to its artistic inspiration. Each lens features a concave cut that curves inward, allowing them to sit closely together without creating an unwieldy structure. The 3D-printed frame intentionally retains surface variations during finishing, mirroring Kamoda's rejection of smooth perfection in his ceramics. Produced through collaboration with Kaneko Optical and manufactured entirely in Japan, UROKO represents a deliberate departure from design defaults, where every element serves both aesthetic and functional purposes.

Read at Yanko Design - Modern Industrial Design News