Designer Files: Jens William Sørensen

by Louis J L Fullagar Again, it's always such a pleasure to chat with eyewear designers, especially ones that I can call personal friends. Jens William Sørensen, owner and designer of Nine Eyewear is on the couch today to talk with us about Danish design and his own optical journey.Jens was born in Aarhus in Denmark and grew up in the small beach town of Risskov. Like most Danes, he grew up surrounded by Scandinavian design and architecture. An appreciation for clean lines and simple construction came at an early age as the young Jens sat in the two, Arne Jacobsen designed, Swan chairs that sat proudly in his parents living room. The concept that "less is actually more" started to take root in young Dane's mind.After completing business school, Jens began working for an eyewear distribution company. With a keen eye for fashion he soon became a purchasing manager for an optical group and then during 1993 decided to start his own distribution company. He became the European distributor of the Bada and Okio collections for BADA Inc of Los Angeles soon after.How did you come from the distribution side to designing your own collection?Having worked as distributor for such great collections for almost 17 years, I found myself stuck with the idea of doing things in a different way. I was happy with the cooperation that I had with the LA based company, but I also kept focusing on the fact that most all of the fine products that were shown at worldwide optical shows were competing with each other by making almost identical products.The whole concept of nine eyewear came from the desire of making the perfect, most simple and minimalistic collection, using the thinnest eye wire possible....a collection of frames that were all full rim. At a time where most all of our colleagues in the industry were cutting their frames from sheets or blocks of metal, I felt that there was a need for a simple, flexible and, most of all, light weight collection. In Beta-Titanium we found the perfect material, in that it is not only very light, but also extremely flexible. In fact, the wearer sometimes has the sensation that she or he is not wearing any frames at all.Our frames are all hand made in Japan. Having been in the optical business for more than 20 years, I knew that the best place to produce a high quality collection of titanium frames would be in Japan.All our frames are made to weigh no more than 9 grams only! What better way to symbolize this, than to name the collectionnine - 9 grams of pure titanium Who or what were your early influences?I think the right answer to this will have to be "our customers and all minimalistic architects and designers". My main influence for making the collection was based more on the need for this kind of product than on the assumption that we could revolutionize the industry. Having been a sales rep for ages, I already knew what our customers were asking for or at least I had heard many customers saying "why doesn't anybody do a collection of lightweight, non allergenic, simple designed frames that aren't  3 piece mounts or rimless frames?"I had already worked closely together with our Japanese producer for many years so the distance from the need for the product and the idea of how to make the collection, to the actual prototype and later on the first collection, wasn't actually so long. Today, the rest is history.Where do you draw inspiration from now?As I said, the needs of our customers together with my personal love of simplicity and Japanese craftsmanship, is my daily inspiration. Having said that, it is of course also crucial to always try to stay open minded to new ideas and production techniques. A very close cooperation with our skilled producer in Japan is of benefit to me, as we now know and understand each other so well that we even start to think alike.What is your favorite pair of glasses not designed by you?That's an easy one. I really admire the simplicity of the Austrian brand ROLF Spectacles. More than once I met with Roland Rolf during different events, where I learned about the ingenious mounting system and clean surface of their frames. What is happening with your brand this year?At the Silmo show in September we launched our first collection of the nine EDGE. The EDGE collection is a laser cut, ultra thin and still super flexible and light weight alternative to the classic nine eyewear frame. We sold out of the first models immediately and due to the instant success we actually experienced back orders for the first time. Today we are back on track with deliveries and have already introduced several new models in the nine EDGE 2013 collection.I also have another project that I am working on with a new material that we are hoping to introduce at the end of this year or maybe early 2014. For me it is so much more important that the product is perfect when we launch it than targeting a particular show to launch at. I am very conscious of the fact that we have hard earned credibility in this business but I also know that it is an asset we should always safeguard and protect.What is it about being an independent that makes it worth the hard work?I don't really consider being an independent as being that important for me. We are a small company and treat each other like family so to me this is where the real value lies. Enjoying what you do, getting thrilled about the excitement when you see something grow from an idea, to a drawing, to the actual product and of course being proud when you see actual consumers wearing your frames. This is just the best!We are proud of making the kind of collection that we do. We are among the few collections still producing everything in Japan and I personally believe that this will make us stand out even more in the future. We actually have many customers asking us to supply the original Japanese Certificate of Origin. I think customers are more conscious than in previous times of child labour and poor working conditions in some countries so we are proud to confidently stand behind our "Made In Japan" philosophy.www.nine-eyewear.dk