Nominees for the Optical Design Contest at Silmo announced

The third edition of the Optical Design Contest at Silmo Paris, chaired by Olivier Jault, highlights innovative eyewear and accessories created by design students. The finalist projects, evaluated for creativity, functionality, and feasibility, will be showcased at Silmo Paris 2024, with the winner announced on September 20.
Silmo, the international trade fair for ophthalmic optics and fashion, takes place from September 20 to 23 in Paris and brings together around 900 exhibitors, 1,500 brands, and 32,000 trade visitors.
For the third time Silmo also promotes tomorrow’s talent with the Optical Design Contest. Open to design school students around the world, the third edition of the contest focuses on accessory glasses that, aside from correcting and protecting the wearer’s vision, explore new functionalities and uses.

Shoe designer Olivier Jault chairs a contest at optical trade show

Chaired by Olivier Jault and made up of optics and design professionals, the jury met at the start of July to assess the projects submitted from various design schools and select the most pertinent to the theme.
A renowned shoe designer, Olivier Jault joined the fashion and accessories sector after passing the entrance exams for the Duperré School of Applied Arts. With an applied arts degree in his back pocket, he presented his first shoe collection. He then collaborated with many prestigious brands such as Martin Margiela, Givenchy with Alexander McQueen, Saint-Laurent with Tom Ford, J.M. Weston, Repetto, Jean Paul Gaultier and many others.
With a great passion for shoes, Olivier Jault is also co-commissioner of the “Jean-paul Gaultier pour Stéphane Kélian: Roman d’une rencontre” exhibition at the Shoe Museum in Romans-sur-Isère, which can be visited until 3rd November 2024.

Jury members reviewed the projects, taking into account their creative, innovative design dimension and the proposed product’s use and function within the scope of the theme. The project’s feasibility, including the production of a 3D printed prototype, was also assessed.

The nominees

The jury will meet at Silmo on the morning of 20th September to choose the winner from among the selected designs:

DISTROAL
by Thomas Deneufbourg – École de Design Nantes Atlantique
Glasses as support accessories for users that have specific needs, including people affected by disorders on the autism spectrum and anxiety disorders. Distroal means “calming’ in the Breton language.

LUCID
by Perrine Payen – Rubika
“Forgotten objects” like the pocket watch and the monocle are recycled and find a new life by being transformed into elegant magnifying glasses.

RHOÉ
by Theo Vanpoperynghe – ISD RubikaAn original designer device to help with eye strain.

SOUND SIGHT
by Nolan Guenot -Ecole Supérieur De Design de Troyes
Bone conduction glasses, proven technology that is reinvented here with an aerial aesthetic.

SPECTAPOP
by Camille Grand – ISD Rubika
Glasses with an uncompromising, attention-grabbing, fun design for visual hide-and-seek.

VIEWPROJECT
by Amélie MEERSSEMAN – École de design Nantes Atlantique
Innovative, designer protective eyewear, imagined as fit-over glasses for prescription eyeglass wearers.