Dear Eyewear lovers,
Exactly one year ago today, I boarded a plane to Italy to begin an eyewear design program at the Polimoda Fashion Institute. Looking back, it feels surreal. It’s hard to put into words how life-changing that decision was, but standing here twelve months later, I feel a quiet sense of accomplishment and happiness. I set out with a deeply personal goal—to live a more creative life—and I can honestly say I have met and exceeded that dream in ways I couldn't have predicted.
Since returning, it has been a whirlwind of designing, prototyping and learning. I launched a brand and a business withThis Frameworks selling curated eyewear to fund my true passion of creating my own independent collection. Along the way, I’ve loved connecting with so many of you and learning the ins and outs of retail partnerships and the eyewear business. That collaborative - go for it energy followed me into the spring, when I traveled to Palm Springs for a workshop and got to hand-make two of my very own designs.
That workshop turned out to be a pivotal moment. It led me to meet Travis from LFVR, and I am incredibly thrilled to share that we are officially producing four original designs from my collection! They will be available in three distinct, stunning Mazzucchelli acetate color ways across both sunglasses and optical frames, 5 barrel hinges, subtle and bold tints in the lenses. I’ve been able to design all the details and have the finest quality materials for my very first collection. No compromises, I’m so happy with how they are coming along. The collection will be ready for sale early this fall. I also had the amazing experience of designing and styling a gorgeous campaign photoshoot in Laguna Beach for ThisFrameworks.com and social media. I graduated from my old Squarespace site and built a brand-new Shopify store which is going to give you a much smoother shopping experience with better e-commerce, try on and checkout features.
What makes this journey even wilder is that I’ve built all of this while keeping my foot firmly on the gas at my day job as a UX Leader at Google. Navigating the tech space during an AI revolution is no small feat, but I feel like I'm flourishing there, too. Lately, I’ve been pushing for more delight in the Google Play purchase path, proving that intentional animations and storytelling can actually drive user conversion. I am super proud of the latest motion designs we’re launching to 50 soccer-loving countries during FIFA!
Fueling my corporate creativity by day and my artistic entrepreneurship by night has been exhausting, but infinitely rewarding.
Looking ahead to this next year, I know that launching my own collection is going to unlock so many more doors. The momentum is already building: next week, I will be receiving the 3D-printed prototypes of my frames.
Stay tuned for an unboxing and live demo very soon. After all... This Frameworks!
Stay bold, Stephanie