Party island Ibiza is known for many things. As the home of a luxury eyewear brand? Not so much. But Italian entrepreneurs Alessandro Forte and Stefano Ottone have made a success of Glassing, which they founded in 2010, quickly becoming a celebrity favourite. As the brand lands in the UAE, the duo speak to The Directory about their art-infused eyewear label that’s got everyone talking:
How did Glassing come about?
Alessandro Forte: Our adventure started as a holiday in Ibiza when we were young and penniless. In order to stay there and continue partying we needed to earn some money. Stefano and I were both always interested in vintage glasses. We scraped some money [together], starting worked together on different designs and would sell our glasses around Ibiza, in beach shops, at clubs etc, and eventually... Glassing was born.
How did you come up with the name?
Stefano Ottone: We wanted to present our positive vibes through our brand and turn [it] into a whole movement and lifestyle, rather than just a name. We wanted to be more than just luxury eyewear. Then we thought of the basic word ‘glass’ and transferred it to a verb; for example smile — smiling, and glass — glassing.
Who were your first celebrity clients?
Forte: Our first celebrity client ever was Kate Moss. She bought the sunglasses from Harrods and actually wore them to her honeymoon.
Ottone: And our first celebrity client in our actual flagship store in Italy was Giorgio Armani. This was a shocker for us. When our store manager called and told us that Giorgio Armani is at the store I thought she was kidding and didn’t believe her [laughs].
What is your favourite pair of Glassing?
Forte: My absolute favourite pair is GP1 Gold.
Ottone: I prefer the GP5 in black the most.
What are your future plans?
Forte: Expect to have more colour, creativity and detailed hardware. We are also launching a flagship store in Dubai, as we only have the two pop-ups now [in JBR and City Walk 2] so we are excited to really establish Glassing in the region, and we will be coming to Dubai soon. We can’t give away much more but the new collection is going to be showstopper.
Go online
For more on the brand, go to glassing.it.
