THE DESIGNER BEHIND ‘THE COMPONENT COLLECTION’
30/09/16
“Every element has to be designed with purpose,” says KITE designer Marcello Martino, who pursued product design and architecture for years before discovering his love of eyewear. And KITE. His intense curiosity and imagination fuel his urge to create. In this specialist medium where technicality and art intersect, his designs always astonish us.
Marcello’s latest collection for KITE flirts with geometry, inside and out. Although the primary materials are KITE familiars – lustrous acetate from Mazzucchelli and silk-light stainless steel – they take on new personas.
“The collection was born out of a curiosity to manipulate the line where the component meets the material,” says Marcello. “Playing with the possibilities allowed me to create an almost deconstructed effect, revealing the formation and functionality of the design. The wearer’s experience should be tactile and, yes, visual throughout.”
The collection of three pieces is an almost scientific investigation of the designer’s journey: imagination, styling, form, material, engineering… and how they all connect.
“It was a real learning process. What will it be like to expose the components – wire core, rivet and temple-tip detailing – formally and structurally?” asks Marcello.
He obsesses with every little detail. “The most challenging element was the wire core and the way the temple is prepared so that the wire core does not distort or disappear from view in the rear acetate layer. There’s something deeply satisfying about being able to see it at the end through double-layer acetate sides. You highlight the defining features by exposing them.”
When we ask Marcello about the creative approach he brought to the Component Collection, he responds: “I have my eyes open and I’m actively curious about everything. Exploring materials and their interactions with one another has always been a KITE trademark.” And it’s Marcello’s passion for cutting-edge technology that continues to make his creations such finely engineered objects, collection after collection.
Discover Components below.
OUR COMPONENTS ARE HERE: