JINS Taps Michele De Lucchi to Design New Budget-Friendly Eyeglasses

Fans of the nearly ubiquitous eyewear startup Warby Parker will be glad to learn of JINS, a Japanese brand founded in 2001 that began making in-roads in the U.S. with its first outlet in San Francisco in 2015. Now, JINS has five American outposts (and 519 worldwide), each offering prescription glasses in less than 30 minutes, with prices starting at $60 a pop.

Last October, the brand launched its Design Project, a collaboration with globally influential designers to create new frames that embody their unique design philosophies. First in the line-up were Jasper Morrison and Konstantin Grcic; the latest is renowned architect and chief editor of Domus Michele De Lucchi.

De Lucchi and his team started from an anthropological approach, researching the 400-year-old history of eyeglasses and what they express about the wearer. "It can be said that in the choice of eyeglasses, each person designs themself and how he/she appears to others," says De Lucchi, making a statement that lends the JINS Michele De Lucchi collection its name: We Are All Designers of Ourselves.

Riffing off the basic typologies of Round, Boston, Cats-Eye, and Polygonal, De Lucchi and his team produced 64 designs that they then whittled down to four, with four color choices each for a total of 16. Named Michele, Davide, Frederica, and Monica after each member of the design team, each frame was diligently modeled and distorted to be expressive and contemporary.

"Your hairstyle, what you wear, how you behave, all such elements that make up a personality are determined by no one else but you," says De Lucchi in a statement. "In this regard, eyeglasses are very significant. They are the most important detail of a person’s face."

Here at Dwell, a few of us had the opportunity to pick our own pairs—just in time to freshen up our looks for the new year. We were impressed by the diverse personalities captured by each frame—from the quirky-but-minimalist Michele in Beige, to the classy-but-sassy Monica in Wine—and they way they fit different face shapes.   

De Lucchi met the architect Ettore Sottsass after studying architecture in Florence, and helped found the Memphis movement in 1981. "[Sottsass] taught me that an architect’s work is not merely about creating a design for a structure, but also about the significance of looking at human behavior and activities," says De Lucchi. "The job of an architect is to understand humankind and the world, and to make a careful analysis of the needs of human life, and then to project them into a form."

Sturdy and comfortable, and markedly distinct from other eyeglass designs, Michele De Lucchi’s contributions to JINS’ Design Project are just that—a thoughtful analysis of what the modern user needs, given form.