Over the course of this year more than 350 opticians will come to Agordo, in the Belluno Dolomite mountains, for their own personal encounter with the Blackfin Experience. In an invitation to its clients to discover where and how its titanium eyewear are produced, Blackfin opens the doors of the Black Shelter – its CasaClima Work&Life-certified sustainable headquarters – completed in 2021 as part of the company’s 50th anniversary festivities.
Inaugurated in 2022, the program is moving ahead in a more structured manner through visits that involve about 15-20 opticians at a time from key European markets, like Germany, Italy, France, Austria and the Nordic countries.
Nicola Del Din, Blackfin CEO, explains the experience “The aim is to tell the story of Blackfin’s history and production process. For the most part, we are inviting well-established opticians but are quite happy to introduce ourselves to prospective clients as well. No matter how often we tell our story and portray our product digitally and in photographs, seeing with their own eyes the place where our frames are designed and produced allows people to fully appreciate the authentic value of our eyewear. We hope to provide the opticians with an all-encompassing experience, by the end of which they become not only our friends but real brand ambassadors for us with their customers.”
The Black Shelter
Inside the Black Shelter, which is also home to the corporate offices, production is divided into several areas. This makes daily operations more efficient while at the same time allowing the entire process (that takes place in 109 stages, many still accomplished by hand), to be visibly more comprehensible. A workplace nestled in the foothills of Monte Agner, the building’s vast windows frame awe-inspiring views of the majestic, nearly 3000-meter high, dolomitic mountain.