Max Mara launches stream of consciousness eyewear

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Mar 9, 2017

The Italian fashion giant has debuted Max Mara Prism in Motion, sunglasses featuring text by Martin, a UK artist known for her stream of consciousness drawings and for “Liveography” –  live performances where drawings are projected to sound and music. Based on digitally reproduced artwork, the glasses are in cat like or large volume shapes. Using Safilo’s Optyl@ technology, involving thermosetting plastics, actual paper is inserted into the glasses to create a numbered edition of just 1,000 pieces.
 

Max Mara’s owners, the founding Maramotti family, own one of Italy’s greatest contemporary art collection and have long supported art projects. In May 2015, Max Mara sponsored the opening of the Renzo Piano-designed Downtown Whitney, New York’s newest museum located on the Hudson River in The Meatpacking District. The award-winning architect even created a handbag for Max Mara, called, understandably, the Whitney Bag.

The Prism in Motion collection was unveiled during Paris fashion week, in a soiree hosted by artist Martin and Maria-Giulia Prezioso Maramotti, the granddaughter of Max Mara’s founder, in their Faubourg St Honoré flagship. Guests – including Inès Sastre, Ana Giradot, Gabriel Kane Lewis, and Killian Hennessy. All posed in the eyewear, captured by 11 high-tech cameras in a 3D process known as Spin by Sharingbox. The Max Mara Shantell Martin sunglasses retail for 345 euros and are now available at Max Mara boutiques, e-commerce and high-end opticians worldwide.