ABOUT ZUERIHORN
Zuerihorn is a creative team of designers, with headquarters in Switzerland, that creates luxury glasses out of horn by hand. Inspired by the idea of travelling new paths with a classic product, Zuerihorn interprets horn-rimmed glasses anew. Connects pure luxury with fashion. Luxurious fashion, if you will. Expensive. Precious. And very individual. For Zuerihorn is made out of the most exclusive materials that can be used for the manufacture of glasses: water buffalo horn and the finest Italian silk cloth! With this, Zuerihorn doubtless possesses a niche in the glasses market. Alongside the high standard of quality of the material, it is especially the extensive, custom-made production by hand that makes a Zuerihorn so precious. A rare and highly specialised art handicraft that requires years, even decades, of experience, and that only a few experts worldwide have mastered. The silk is the unmistakeable trademark that makes a genuine Zuerihorn out of a pair of horn-rimmed glasses. Designed by Zuerihorn itself after intensive trend research. Realised in accordance with the seasonal trends set on the catwalks of the world and in the streets of its major cities. Pure and noble natural horn in a seasonal blaze of colours: purist or high fashion, according to the collection.
DESIGNING STANDARD: Exclusivity & Modern Aesthetic
What began as a designing project for Jonas Herde in 1998 during his optician’s training in Zurich has developed into an independent brand that is today distributed worldwide via selected optician shops. Meanwhile a team of four, Jonas Herde, Patrick Basler, Livio Notaro and Daniel Ferrari bring together different competences from the fields of optics and fashion. Regarded in this way, Zuerihorn is a creative network that interprets customary forms and styles anew from different points of view. The conviction that influences from the past, present and future can be combined in one classic product is the orientation for the joint designing standard with which Zuerihorn tracks down, analyses and realises current trends in material, design and marketing.
Whoever holds a pair of Zuerihorn glasses in his/her hand senses this standard in each and every detail. The knowledge of the preciousness of the materials and the enormous effort in processing and design gives the wearer the certainty of possessing something truly unique. The possibility of having glasses custom-designed according to one’s own ideas takes one’s need for exclusivity into account in a special way. This luxury is not decadent, however. It is far more the expression of a new feeling for life that makes itself free of superficial status symbols. It is organic, unobtrusive and of a timeless aesthetic. Made for fashionable individualists, of every age group, who know how to appreciate that certain fine difference in their entire lifestyle.
PRODUCTION: Traditional Craftsmanship & Innovative Trend Research
Zuerihorn uses the horn of the Indian and South American water buffalo for its glasses. This is a natural material only rarely used for the production of glasses and with an extremely high standard of quality that does not allow for any industrial production, unlike widespread materials such as acetate, metal or plastic. On the contrary: the production of horn-rimmed glasses is craftsmanship by hand, piece by piece. A traditional artistic handicraft that requires years of experience, a high degree of specialisation, perfection in detail and a great deal of time. It takes several weeks, in the smallest work phases, to make a single pair of glasses out of the horn materials of up to 2 metres long. Each horn has its own unique colour structure that has grown naturally over the course of 1 to 25 years. The older the horn, the darker the colour. From the untreated horn, specialists recognise those colour layers and material structures suitable for further processing. It is always only a small, flawless part of the horn that can be used; it is then ground out in a layer of up to 0.5 millimetres thin. A pair of Zuerihorn glasses is created from up to seven different layers of horn. To attain the desired colour intensity, the individual plates are carefully adjusted to each other and layered against the fibre in different colour nuances. This is an art unto itself. The skilled combination of dark-brown, light-brown, white or even transparent plates results in a unique and unmistakeable overall appearance that makes a pair of Zuerihorn glasses appear so translucent and light. The layering does not only have an aesthetic background, however. When all the plates are glued, this lends the horn-rimmed glasses stability and flexibility. A pair of genuine Zuerihorn glasses bears yet another particular individual characteristic. This is found in the next-to-last layer of the glasses’ body. This is Italian silk of the highest quality, worked into the entire surface with the help of an innovative technology. Sealed with a precious, transparent horn layer, one can see the material shining through from the inside of the glasses. The silk is a
unique design drafted and designed by Zuerihorn according to fashion standards and, finally, exclusively woven for Zuerihorn into material in an Italian silk-weaving mill. The spectrum ranges from monochromatic cloth in light green, turquoise or dark blue to strikingpatterns and colour effects. All this is the result of intensive trend research, carried out by Zuerihorn itself with great effort. Since the current trends of the fashion industry are realised in these designs, there are always new seasonally-inspired silk cloths with each new collection.
COLLECTION: Versatile & Individual
The careful selection of the material, the conscious decision for anextensive production procedure, as well as intensive research in design due to a high standard in trends and aesthetic, enable us to create a versatile collection that, in varying facets, can do justice to a variety of demands. The collection by Zuerihorn comprises three points of emphasis in design: the series NOS (never out of stock) contains, as the basic collection, “ready to wear” models that appear unexcited, in an elegant way, with monochromatic silk and muted horn colours. They are the classic amongst the glasses by Zuerihorn. The series ANNUAL is seasonally influenced and therefore subject to permanent transformation. The worked-in silk is orientated on the current trends of the fashion industry that Zuerihorn realises in different silk-cloth designs. The frames become more extrovert, but not loud. With the fashion series STORY, Zuerihorn breaks away from traditional, established forms: the models are extrovert, striking and at times exaggerated. Their design is the expression of an annual new story experienced by Zuerihorn itself. Thus STORY is the direct result of an inspiration. Of a place. Of an encounter. Or impression. The story for
this collection is written one week a year. Strictly limited. Always a new.
To be seen on www.zuerihorn.ch