The VAVA eyewear brand was the brainchild of a young Portuguese fashion designer, Pedro da Silva. Da Silva, despite his age, has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the fashion industry, like Hugo Boss. While he was based in Milan, Italy, he decided to start his own line of eyewear, a “timeless object” according to him.

Da Silva aimed to break all the rules regarding eyewear designs and created his own concepts. He relocated from Milan to Berlin, Germany, mainly because of the exciting and creative energy of the city. He feels that this is a great fit for his design aspirations. 

To create a label that, as Da Silva says, “includes the language of machines and the arts”, he collaborated with eyewear designers Giordano Cazzola and Beate Leinz. Leinz formerly worked at Prada’s eyewear line. The three of them laid down the foundation of what was to become VAVA eyewear.

The Concept Behind VAVA

The VAVA logo has an abstract design. The 5 perpendicular lines with right angles between them symbolize the mathematical precision that goes into the brand’s designs. It is also representative of the mathematical principles used in the industrial world.

Sharp Lines and Basic Shapes

You can easily tell that VAVA eyewear takes inspiration from minimalist designs, mainly from the Bauhaus Movement. Da Silva said that he was inspired by such artists like Sol LeWitt, Josef Albers, and Malevich. VAVA uses simple shapes, mainly squares and rectangles, that are common in man-made industrial designs.

VAVA was among the first eyewear brands that used flat lenses, or as VAVA calls them zero-base lenses. This design essentially broke all the rules of the eyewear market. The flat lenses are a throwback to the popular designs of the 80s. 

However, da Silva wanted to do glasses just for aesthetics. He wanted to go for something more of a declaration of his principles. Flat lenses, for da Silva, is a symbolic “glass wall” in a society where everything is moving at breakneck speeds. His glasses give users a chance to pause and contemplate.

Unisex Designs

There are no men’s or women’s designs in VAVA eyewear. Having unisex glasses designs is naturally connected to the essence of VAVA. The brand continuously challenges itself to come up with designs that eliminate unneeded adornments. This is so they can build a design that is gender-neutral.

This philosophy of doing away with gender roles is very visible in how VAVA would mainly use basic shapes in monochrome, usually colored in neutral or primary colors. 

VAVA’s Inspiration

Science Fiction

The VAVA brand takes a lot of its design inspirations from sci-fi, mostly from movies and TV shows. One of the movies that inspired VAVA’s designs is Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The use of bold colors and simplistic designs is akin to what the VAVA brand wanted to produce. It seeks to represent the ideology of man still very much in control of the technological world, like contrasting acceleration and rest.

Detroit

It might seem a bit out of the ordinary but Da Silva has long been fascinated with the city of Detroit. He is enamored in particular with its post-industrial scene. Detroit was once one of the most prosperous cities in the US but suddenly experienced a violent collapse. The city had to reinvent itself just so it can survive.

Although it is usually associated with European culture, techno music originated from Detroit in the 1980s. So it is no wonder that from the ashes of the once-great Motor City rose a modern Techno Music movement. This led to the re-emergence of “Techno City” in Detroit, which many hails will be the city of the future.

VAVA Eyewear does not just think out of the box. It also wants to destroy it completely. Let the people express themselves any way they want.