Materialise and Hoet Design Studio Launch 3D Printed Eyewear

Over the course of the next two days, 3D Printing’s leading thinkers and doers will call Brussels home as they gather to celebrate and discuss meaningful applications of 3D Printing at the Materialise World Conference.

What better time for Hoet Design Studio to debut their 3D-printed Cabrio eyewear collection – produced in collaboration with Materialise NV. The Cabrio collection, which consists of four sun and two optical styles, is created at the intersection of tradition in creating premium eyewear designs and advanced additive manufacturing technologies.

Hoet Design Studio strongly believes that eyeglasses should not only be a means to improve vision, but also a way to add to your personality – accentuating your own style so perfectly well that the result is impossible to ignore. To deliver on this, they are constantly challenged to design solutions that create a better equilibrium between aesthetics, functionality, technology, and ergonomics. It is when the Studio ran into design constraints that conventional technologies weren’t able to solve that they first collaborated with Materialise in 2013. This resulted in the Cabriolet Evo B, a pair of sunglasses that offered users a close and comfortable fit with a distinct, cutting-edge shape.

With this latest collaboration, both Hoet Design Studio and Materialise have pushed the limits of 3D printing technology, engineering, software, and manufacturing to create eyewear that resemble the perfect fusion of comfort, luxury, and quality. These glasses are made of superior materials and have be
en manufactured in the most advanced 3D Printing facility in Europe. Each pair sold is passed through an extensive control procedure to ensure that the highest quality standards are met and comes delivered with a Certificate of Authenticity.

“3D Printing has allowed us to achieve new designs which could not be realized by traditional production techniques” says Bieke Hoet, one of the Founders of Hoet Design Studio. “Our close collaboration with the engineering team at Materialise helped us in the physical realization of our ideas, putting the added values that 3D print has to offer in the daylight. These ‘made in Belgium’ CABRIO frames differentiate in many ways and offer aesthetical, functional and economic benefits to our customers. I find it especially exciting to be able to launch these glasses under the watchful eye of the world’s leading experts in meaningful 3D Printing applications, and proudly worn by the founder and CEO of Materialise, Wilfried Vancraen.”

The new Cabrio Collection will be available at the Hoet Eyewear Shops in Brussels and Bruges and at select independently owned optical shops worldwide. Click here to find the shop nearest you.