INTRODUCING: KUBORAUM

When approaching our sunglasses offering, we decided to take a less-but-better approach, and bring in only a couple of brands that we think make the best sunglasses in the world. One of these is KUBORAUM, our long time favorite out of Berlin, designed by Livio Graziottin and Sergio Eusebi.

The KUBORAUM "face masks," as the duo calls them, range from intricate to outrageously unconventional. The outside-the-box thinking partly comes from the fact that Livio is an artist and sculptor and Sergio is an anthropologist by education. It is no surprise that their vision for eyewear has a philosophical bent. The two view their masks as an instrument of protection and shelter, which, if you think about it makes sense, as we use sunglasses not only to protect ourselves from the sun, but from the prying eyes of other people. Sunglasses give us privacy and help us delineate boundaries.

Berlin, the spiritual home of these two Italians, is the engine that supplies their creative energy. Both are manic about music. Sergio - a regular of Berlin's infamous nightclubs - will as soon talk to you about techno, of which he possesses encyclopedic knowledge, as he will about eyewear. Their sprawling Berlin compound is a home not only to their studio and boutique but also to an event space where they host concerts and art performances.

Like many of the most worthwhile creators, Livio and Sergio operate in opposition; in this instance opposition to the mass-market ethos of eyewear, in which everything operates by the industrial logic of efficiency that reduces and sterilizes everything in its process. Their creations are not driven by market data, advertising, or trends - they come solely from their minds. And all of them are made by hand in Italy.