Waiting for the DaTE: Nobika.

DaTE, the international fair for avant-garde eyewear, will take place from Saturday 11th to Monday 13th September in Florence, at the Leopolda station. The event aims to be a strategic meeting opportunity, attracting companies which are known worldwide for their eyewear innovation and design, for their exclusive and selected products.
As the ninth edition of DaTE approaches, we have interviewed some of the key players. 

In this  interview we meet Andrea Postizzi from Nobika.

Shaping the avant-garde is the essence of DaTE. What form has your brand taken and how does it interpret the avant-garde? 
Nobika is focused on offering customers a quality product. This also characterises our way of interpreting the avant-garde. And our interpretation of avant-garde is inextricably linked to the past! It may seem like a contradiction in terms, but it’s not. I’ll explain why. Quality is a concept that has been almost entirely lost over the last few decades. A lot of emphasis is placed on amazing the market with design features, but little thought is put into satisfying the customer with a quality product. This is why the quality of our product, created using artisan production methods from the past, represents the avant-garde element of our collection. 

Materials are a key element of unique and original collections, while never neglecting the issue of sustainability. Which ones have you chosen for the DaTe 2021 collections?
For all our creations, including the collections that we will present at DaTE 2021, we use exclusively Japanese cellulose acetate – specifically Takiron – and pure titanium, again exclusively Japanese-made.  

Exclusivity, transgression, design. These are all concepts that have distinguished DaTE since its creation. Which one is most characteristic of your brand, and why?
We surely recognise ourselves in two of these three concepts. Exclusivity, for the materials used and manufacturing processes; and design, regarding the details that characterise our products’ style.   

How does the Italian market perceive eyewear with high level of design, focused on craftsmanship and high-tech?
It’s hard to answer this, because the market varies enormously and is very fickle. The only thing that I can hope for is that all those involved show more awareness and understanding in the proposals that they offer our potential market.