【biz-seed】Spectacles between Art and Craft

RYO YAMASHITA
Spectacles that Open Up a Dialogue



RYO YAMASHITA is the last heir of an old EDO KINWAKU* artisan family. Pride and philosophy of ancestors and his established technique gave birth to his simple yet fashionable spectacles. The whole process is handiwork from molding to casting. The radical form will surely inspire the wearer with a crisp tension.
　Following an old saying –“listen to the voice of the material,” YAMASHITA will search for the most suitable function that materials could play, thus coming out in each different shape. “I want to create a tool that keeps dialogue with its user.” Spectacles that increase value the more you use, not like other usual consumer goods. His spectacles are not merely a reappearance of retro eye glasses of Edo era but are an outcome of a seeking for his own new form. The result was this unique pair of glasses, a craft closer to artwork, or vice versa


　 So this is the best harmony of function and form. The all handmade spectacles will naturally induce you to elegant carriage. This work born from 350 years history, never to be found in the West, will surely inspire your excitement.

*EDO KINWAKU was a profession of craftsmen making unique gold eye glasses during the EDO era.