Thursday July 2, 2009

Eye for perfection

By WONG LI ZA

Glasses without screws, soldering or welding. What else will they think of next?

YOU can tell Ralph Anderl is a man with a great sense of humour just by reading his curriculum vitae.

For example, in 2013, he “receives” a nomination for the Alternative Nobel Prize for sheetmetal glasses while in 2034, he “becomes” president of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Anderl even projected his death in 2063 (at age 93) by “choking on a fishbone during a dinner held by the Islandic Import Association in Berlin-Marzahn!”

And it is precisely this wit, innovative spirit and creativity that Anderl injects into his eyewear company.

Just right: ‘We need to know what to bring out at certain times with products that are great in design and fitting,’ says Ralph Anderl.

“Ic! Berlin is about fun, meeting people and being able to realise ideas. It’s great not to have to be so formal and serious all the time,” he said during an interview at the Moving Targets eyewear tradeshow held in Kuala Lumpur recently.

Anderl is the founding member and managing director of German company Ic! Berlin Brillen Gmbh, known for its patented, screwless-spring-hinge-insert system.

The company’s mainstay is sheetmetal glasses, priding itself in designing and producing them without screws, soldering or welding. The screwless system allows users to separate the temples from the front frame, and change the lenses by hand with a few twists and turns.

Holding up a pair of dark grey sheetmetal glasses during the interview, Anderl demonstrated with ease how it can be done.

Sheetmetal glasses are also very flexible, said Anderl, as he firmly pulled the temples outwards to align with the main frame.

“You don’t have to worry if you accidentally sit on it or your child grabs it from your face. The structure will not be affected,” he assured.

“Our problem is teaching people not to be afraid to experiment with the eyewear or use the (screwless) system.”

Personal touch

The company’s eyewear are all hand-finished, lightweight and made in the company’s main office in the heart of Berlin. It also produces acetate and plastic glasses with the same screwless system. The plastic pieces however, are not as flexible as sheetmetal.

Ic! Berlin’s Garrik

Anderl, 39, also incorporates a personal touch into the glasses by including his handphone number in small print on the inner side of the temple. Does he get a lot of calls from customers?

“Actually, I don’t. Maybe they are afraid or don’t believe it’s real,” he quipped.

In addition, users will uncover a little secret in even finer print, also on the temple, in the form of inspirational phrases on topics such as love. (You will need a magnifying glass to read it though.)

Ic! Berlin has won a string of awards for its technology and design. The latest accolades include the Golden Silmo Eyewear Award (Silmo Paris) in 2008, and the IOFT (International Optical Fair Tokyo) Eyewear of the Year Award 2009 for three categories – ladies, sunglasses and sports glasses, luxury and high-classes.

The first Golden Silmo Award in 1999 opened the door to other significant trade shows. The award also meant the company and its no-screw technology were taken more seriously.

London fashion label, Superfine, approached Ic! Berlin to collaborate on a special collection with the same name in 2007, consisting of six stylish sunglasses described by the company as sexy, cool and rock’n roll inspired.

Recently, the company diversified its business by teaming up with an established German clothes company (Reutter) to produce a line of black jeans with silver stitching due to be introduced later this year.

Anderl went into the eyewear business quite by accident. His father is a university lecturer and his mother, a doctor.

Starting from scratch

In the 90s, two friends asked him to model for a new eyewear collection without screws which they had created.

The friends had planned to sell the collection to other optical retailers, but Anderl saw its potential and convinced them to market the eyewear themselves.

“We pretty much started from scratch as we’re not opticians or businessmen,” recalled Anderl, who holds a degree in cultural education from Hildesheim University, Germany.

He then went around Berlin on his bicycle, (his choice of transportation until today, due to parking ease, speed during traffic jams and flexibility) showing the samples to optical stores.

One of the retailers then advised him to exhibit the collection at a German eyewear trade show in Cologne in 1997 and that marked the label’s official introduction into the market.

However, banks were sceptical of a new company with a novel technology and getting initial funding to build the business was tough.

Anderl then thought of a risky idea to raise funds that eventually paid off. He got customers to pay for their eyewear first and promised them delivery in three months’ time. The plan worked.

Tugay glasses for children

“In the same way, Ic! Berlin is about being creative, not just in design, but also in other aspects like financing,” he said.

Besides emphasising on creativity, a healthy company culture is also on top on his priority list.

In 2006, the company formed a staff choir which would gather every morning at 9am to sing anything from Japanese tunes, classical music to gospel songs.

“Singing is about (verbalising) and communicating, which are also important (elements) in selling. People are also happier when they sing.”

A bass singer himself, Anderl sings classical and opera. He first took voice lessons at 16 and still goes for voice training today. He’s in the midst of preparing for a concert on Franz Schubert’s Winterreise (Winter Journey) in Germany with Ic! Berlin’s patent lawyer, who is a countertenor.

Currently, Anderl is working on his doctorate entitled, “The Collapse of Culture – a topos with Robert Musil”.

“Ic! Berlin is about starting a new culture and it’s important to have this kind of intellectual background for the company,” he explained.

Besides singing, the multi-talented Anderl also paints in pastels and is putting together an installation art exhibition for a hotel in Munich. He also cooks for his staff once a week.

“We had a cook who left, so I thought, why not take over. There is no recipe. I just go to the market and check out what they have. It’s a lovely feeling when you cook and people like your food immediately. It’s the same thing with eyewear, being judged by people immediately on whether they like it or not.”

The label works with kids to develop the children’s line and even names the glasses after the children who design them.

The brand’s latest collection in the market is très chic, a woman’s line designed and modelled by lawyer Christina Muthsam, whom Anderl credits as having a keen sense of design.

“Our next collection is about the young and old. (For the promotion picture), my father’s hand will rest under my face,” said the father of two, adding that his mother and sister will also be involved in the same way.

Anderl still models for the eyewear himself, often striking outlandish or quirky poses.

Anderl describes his customers as people with good design sense, who emphasise on quality and are interested in investment pieces that last.

“Someone once said, ‘I’m not rich enough to buy cheap products (that will not last long).’ Buying eyewear is also not just about design but perfect fit as well.”

The most challenging part of running an eyewear company, said Anderl, is not to do too many things at one time.

“We need to know what to bring out at certain times with products that are great in design and fitting. The trick is to balance being perfect yet realise that we may not always reach absolute perfection,” he said.

■ Prices range from RM1,200 to RM2,000. For details, call tel: 03-9274 2388.