Herrlicht: unique eyewear made entirely of wood

Elton John is one of the 300 customers who can boast owning a pair of Herrlicht eyeglasses, probably the most serious ones in the rock star’s collection. No gold, diamonds or even a metal screw, just wood. This is how artisan Adreas Licht challenges the big names in luxury from his workshop in Erfurt.
His Errlicht eyeglasses are absolutely unique. Other eyeglasses in wood are made by Sagawafuji from Japan, but they are a mass-produced industrial product with iron hinges. And not even the artisans at America’s Urban Spectacles have been able to create models without metal reinforcements.

The only ones that are 100% wood are the Herrlichts. They came into being almost by chance when Andreas Licht, a cabinet maker who trained at the school of master carvers in Florence, went to the optician and discovered that he needed prescription glasses. Instinctively, he wanted to make them himself, obviously by using the material he knew best.

He now makes almost 300 pairs a year in oak, cherry or maple. They are all made to be ordered and his customers are prepared to pay up to a thousand euros for them. Without doubt, Licht’s is a niche market, perhaps better known in Japan and Hong Kong (the biggest orders come for the Far East) than in Italy. In Rome they are sold at the Mondelliani concept store and nowhere else.

Although Herrlicht is a brand that is still fairly unknown, on more than one occasion it has attracted attention on the international scene and has won numerous awards.
Technically, the wooden frames have the same characteristics as the more traditional types in metal or acetate: they can be adapted to the face by simply using heat to twist, raise or incline the structure to change the shape and the temples, and they are very lightweight.

At present, Licht is working on the collection to be presented in March at Mido, the eyewear exhibition in Milan.

“The creation of a new model can take me two weeks or two months”, Licht explained. “Inspiration comes suddenly while I’m walking in the countryside and I start to work as soon as I return. Fortunately, I’m no longer on my own as I now have an apprentice who gives me a hand”.

Source: Capital