Issey Miyake’s newest design is a pair of sun shades impressed by the artwork of pottery.
The glasses, referred to as “Uroko,” are a part of Miyake‘s Spring Summer 2026 collection, Dancing Texture. Moderately than the everyday two-lens construction, they characteristic eight separate lenses that curve across the temples like a trippy optical phantasm. Whereas the design itself reads futuristic, the feel of the frames is nearly natural—like a relic of an historical superior society. They’re set to debut on Miyake’s web site in mid-March for $680.
Every bit of the Dancing Texture assortment, which incorporates structured clothes alongside billowing, patterned textiles, pulls inspiration from the work of the late potter Kamoda Shōji, who’s thought-about to be one in every of Japan’s most influential ceramic artists of the twentieth century.
The Uroko glasses usually are not solely based mostly on a standard motif present in Kamoda’s work, but in addition mimic the ending means of his clay pottery, making every pair a one-of-one.
A mix of 3D printing and Japanese craftsmanship
Kamoda, who died in 1983, rose to national popularity within the Seventies due to his method to pottery that blended consideration to Japan’s ceramic historical past and his personal progressive ideas. He used native clay from the small city of Tōno, which was usually used for roof tiling, making it unusually tough. As a substitute of counting on a potter’s wheel, he most popular to hand-coil the clay, which meant a distinctly labor-intensive course of. Per a 2022 exhibition on the Minneapolis Institute of Artwork, each one in every of Kamoda’s items was designed to be each practical and aesthetically pleasing.
To seize that ethos of texture, perform, and aesthetics, Miyake’s group began with a design that’s an ode to one in every of Kamoda’s signature patterns. The Uroko’s eight lenses are a reference to a swath of finely detailed scales, which Kamoda typically returned to in his ceramic work, regularly as an intricate internet that might cowl a whole vase or bowl.
Miyake’s group created a customized 3D-printed template for the frames, which incorporates two lens areas for the eyes and 6 extra areas that circle round to the ears. Given the bizarre shapes of the glasses, mass-produced lenses have been out of the query. As a substitute, Miyake’s group designed lenses with a specifically engineered concave lower to suit inside the compact body.
“Every lens is lower right into a scale-like form in order that it matches exactly into its corresponding body,” a model spokesperson explains. “As a result of the frames are small and uniquely formed, we went by many rounds of prototyping to refine the lens geometry. By way of this course of, we developed a lens form that may be fitted seamlessly into the body with none gaps.”
As soon as the lenses have been completed, craftsmen on Miyake’s design group assembled every element by hand. As a remaining element, they hand-finished the frames, purposefully accentuating their textured surfaces to disclose refined variations within the 3D-printed materials. This step, just like the glazing of a sequence of ceramics, ensures that no two pairs of glasses are the identical—and makes any imperfections an intentional a part of the design.
