Orgreen Optics
Less is more is the mantra behind Ørgreen’s understated approach to elegance. Innovative colours, discrete details and exceptional materials are the signature traits defining a forward-thinking company driven by relentless curiosity and a profound desire to do things differently.
Currently sold, in over 50 countries worldwide, Ørgreen was established in 1997 in Copenhagen by an entrepreneurial trio of three young guys. Long-time friends with a shared passion for street culture and extreme sports, they entered the world of exclusive eyewear with an excess of creative energy and innovative drive. A will to explore and innovate.
Ørgreen found a niche in the market by uniting the minimalism and functionality from the Danish design aesthetic with meticulous Japanese craftsmanship and not the least with a uniquely curated colour universe. Based in a three story old town house in Copenhagen, all frames are designed in Denmark and handmade in Japan.
Ørgreen creates timeless, lightweight eyewear in impeccable quality with a distinctive edge of boldness and attitude through the expressive use of colour, designed to enhance the individuality of the wearer. The will to stand out through colour innovation has been an essential element of Ørgreen’s identity. The brand employes a full-time colour advisor who creates the colours drop by drop in order to ensure the uniqueness of each shade and each combination of colours, playing with contrasts and tonalities. The colour universe is inspired by an unending diversity of colour phenomenon and articulations – from vivid graffiti and sparkling asphalt to soft fur and the poetry of wild flowers.
What started on the streets of Copenhagen has evolved into one of the world’s leading high-end independent eyewear brands and conquered the shelves of premium retailers and keeps growing. Henrik is still CEO and creative director today, Tobias is head of design and Gregers head of sales for Ørgreen.
DESIGN
Ørgreen frames have a sense of movement. Even though they’re placed on your face, there’s nothing static about them.
When sketching a new design, we look for just the right line, angle and energy to complement the shape of the eye. The top line is the heart of the frame, so we keep drawing it over and over again until we find the one that really beats.
Once we’ve found it we stay loyal to it. We never compromise and our lines are now recognizable and consistent in all our designs. Simple, streamlined and sophisticated, Ørgreen frames have a sense of movement so even though they’re placed on people’s faces, there’s nothing static about them.
Our design and development phases have always been playful, but our end objective remains the focal point of our ambitions. Our design team uses hand drawings, 2-D and 3-D programs, models and prototypes—whatever it takes until the right look emerges. We believe these tools are essential if we want to keep making the best frames on the market.
We usually start out doing a lot of drawings. It can be drawings sketched by hand or using a Wacom board to draw up some interesting ideas. In the end we may be doing 2-300 drawings. We select 100 of them that we would like to pursue further. Then we move into the early prototyping phase of both front and temples of the frames. We now master this phase, which is executed in our HQ, allowing us to move fast. These early prototypes are without hinges, but can still be put on a face so we can look at them and see how they work in action.
At this stage the team involved becomes bigger. We call in our sales team and an external panel who collectively brings the 100 prototypes down to 30 designs. The panel constitutes of people with different face types that we can try the frames on in order to base our decisions on what works on an actual faces.
Accordingly, the technical drafts of those 30 designs are shared with our factories in Japan where they create high quality prototypes made with hinges, nose pads and arms. After analyzing and correcting a first prototype, a second prototype undergoes another testing in front of the panel and at this stage the final 10 styles that are supposed to go into the collection are being selected. This also leaves space for some final adjustments before moving into production.
So our design process goes from the initial 300 drawings to approximately 10 styles that go into our timeless collections.
Handcrafted in Japan
What makes each Ørgreen frames unique is not just the Danish design or the color combinations but likewise the materials and quality of its construction. All the manufacturing processes related to our frames take place within the most skilled facto- ries in Japan, globally renown for delivering the highest quality products in the eyewear business.
These factories take care of sourcing the raw materials such as pure titanium and beta titanium, the basic processes of cutting, bending, milling, stamping, soldering, polishing, coloring the frame as well as the most important operation, which is getting the perfect finishing of the frame.
One of the key reasons Ørgreen works with Japanese titani- um is the strength and durability of the material, resulting in ultra-lightweight frames that provide perfect comfort for the end user. Before being cut into the designed shape the raw materials go through many different processes performed by very skilled craftsmen.
Ørgreen’s Japanese partners are in fact located in an artisan district with a legacy of working with metal for centuries. “We work with as many as 12 different Japanese factories, each with their own area of expertise”, explains Ørgreen’s production manager Jeff Riese aka Hesh. “Each senior artisan in its field is revered as a master – an eyewear sensei.”
A Ørgreen frame is conveyed by hand through more than 100 steps before it is ready for delivery. This ensures that materials, quality and finish are always top-notch. Quality is a cornerstone of our philosophy, as we demand excellence in each step, from initial design to final product.
Our essential criteria for success are, striving towards zero defects and continuous quality improvement. Thanks to the craftsmen and to their colleagues Ørgreen is able to reach the highest level of quality you can find in the market. Meet some of them on the following pages.
COLLECTIONS
All frames are made of titanium and beta-titanium, light yet durable metals in an exceptional quality designed to last. Colours are exquisitely composed in an array of opposites, from strong to fragile, intense to tranquil, raw to refined, sweet to serious and audacious to understated. Designed and developed in Denmark, each frame is handmade in Japan, respected for its high standards and irrefutable quality.
TITANIUM Collection
Handmade in Japan through more than 100 processes, the Ørgreen titanium collection is the very essence of high-end designer eyewear. Light by material, and designed with the wearer in mind, the Ørgreen titanium collection is known for its unique handmade color combinations, created by our in- house colorist.
QUANTUM Collection
QUANTUM reflects the Ørgreen pioneering spirit and ongoing pursuit for innovation. Consisting of a polyamide front with titanium temples, secured through a unique spherical hinge mechanism. A screwless frame, paving the path for a new minimalist design approach to eyewear.
ACETATE Collection
Building a bridge between past nostalgia and innovation, the new Minimal Vintage acetate collection has expanded the Ørgreen repertoire. Characterized by its lightness, strength, and superb color adaptability, acetate is an ideal medium to explore bold and ambitious color stories, a long-standing characteristic of Ørgreen products thanks to Ørgreens skilled in-house colorist. Acetate’s usual vintage feel is challenged by Ørgreens design DNA, by being extended into the brands’ modern minimalist visual ethos.
GRAND DANOIS
This exclusive collection of frames represents Ørgreen’s ded- ication to state-of-the-art craftsmanship, elegantly combined with its design philosophy. Expressed in a selection of precious metal plated frames - with and without diamonds. As with all Ørgreen products, we are committed to using only the most premium of materials and the utmost professional craftsmen and suppliers, handpicked with the greatest care. All processes in the elaboration of the Ørgreen frames are carried out by hand. Starting their journey in Japan, the frames are skillfully handcrafted in 100% titanium and beta titanium. For the frames with diamonds, each style is set with 1 to 10 high quality diamonds, appearing as a luxurious yet subtle detail. Subsequently the diamond frames are shipped to a goldsmith’s workshop in Denmark for the careful mounting of the diamonds. Ultimately the frames return to Japan for the conclusive processes. Firstly a sandblasting process to achieve the correct finish and last but not least a number of precision plating processes in either Gold, Palladium or Ruthenium.
Ørgreen Optics supports the Kimberly Process to eliminate ‘conflict diamonds’ and strictly adheres to all United Nations guidelines and official resolutions regarding this issue.
SNOW GOGGLES
The TAMOK goggle is named after Norway’s pristine Tamok Valley, an adventure lover’s paradise near the Arctic Circle. Each TAMOK goggle comes complete with three different lens colours to equip you for all kinds of winter conditions – from comfortably cold to ferocious and unforgiving. Designed with Ørgreen’s signature cool sophistication fusing functionality with mega minimalism, these unisex goggles are packed with technical prowess.
Frames are produced in Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU), a material which stays flexible at even very low temperatures. They come with a triple-layer moisture wicking face foam which gives you a super snug fit for handling high attitude ex- tremes. Add to that dual anti-fog coated lenses with 100% UV (UVA & UVB) protection and a silicone lined strap for a secure helmet fit and you have a trusty companion for tackling the steepest slopes.