Design space: Augen Optics kids' glasses

Clare Dowdy:

About 500,000 children with poor eyesight enter the Mexican school system every year. In some states up to 70 per cent of children are judged to need lenses at 0.75 correction or higher.

Yet because of the stigma of wearing spectacles, many of them struggle because they cannot see the blackboard - and sometimes even a book - properly.

Eyewear manufacturer Augen Optics commissioned Yves Béhar's Fuseproject to develop glasses that would appeal to children. The firm designed frames made of a light, durable plastic that have two separate parts - a top and bottom - which enable users to customise their glasses in terms of style and colour combinations. A child can pick from three frame shapes and seven colours, and then the two halves can be connected together at the nose bridge.

Along with the Mexican government and Augen, Mr Béhar set up the See Better To Learn Better charity, which produces and distributes the spectacles to poor children.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 13, 2011 2:01 AM
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