Designer Files: Richard Mewha

By Louis J L FullagarRichard Mewha, once widely known in the industry for his years with Alain Mikli and Matsuda started Bevel in 1999 with Rick Nelson. Richard was born in Southend and grew up in Devon, England. He attended International Business School in France and, upon completion, expressed a desire to pursue a career in fashion or design in Italy as he was studying Italian at the time.Fate played it's hand and after being unable to lock down employment in Italy, young Richard began working for Alain Mikli in domestic sales in September 1986. By November the same year, he was winging his way across the "pond" to New York City to work in the US subsidiary.How was it working in New York in the late 80's?. It was an embryonic time for many independent eyewear companies…There were a whole group of us young, mostly European twenty year old's having fun, traveling and selling glasses. There were only a few creative brands at the time: Mikli, LA Eyeworks, Robert LaRoche, Christian Roth and Oliver Peoples. However, it was really challenging as few opticians really took any chances at the time. The ones that did really had fun with it. It was almost like the punk era in music.... the boundaries of traditional eyewear design had just been destroyed!How did your partnership with Rick Nelson evolve?We worked together for ten years as sales reps for Matsuda. I had always hoped to create my own collection, and we both looked for the right opportunity to start our own business.Photo courtesy Clamp OptometristsAfter working on the wholesale side, what inspired your first collection?If I am honest, our first collection was a hodgepodge of ideas. We had a third partner who had some simple designs for shapes that we then added to. It took us a few collections to really find our own identity. It was an evolution in design that took place when we had grown in confidence in our own ability. We initially found a strong niche in smaller eye sizes.Where do you draw inspiration from now?I believe the hardest part of designing a collection, is staying true to who you are as a brand while still evolving. I love bold color, design detail that enhances rather than takes over from the overall look of the frame. So, the answer is really from within. As a person and a brand it is always important to keep learning, and therefore renew and evolve.What is happening with your brand this year?It is a year for building on what we have recently launched... a new beta-hinge, which is perhaps more important to us in terms of defining our brand, than even in technical terms. We are also starting to make some larger sizes to help with growing the brand, specifically in Asia, and special fitting frames for those markets also. We have also started to take more chances on bolder, brighter colors as we feel our consumers are ready to have some fun again.Photo courtesy LYF MagazineYou are the pioneer and driving force behind LOFT NYC.... tell us more about the project?It started as a collaboration between ourselves and Face a Face 13 years ago which resulted in us teaming up at a a private loft on 34th St. Being in New York, I assumed the reins of organizing the event which grew into five companies 6 years ago when we moved to Skylight West on 36th St.LOFT NYC is no longer just an alternate trade show event. We are helping each other to grow our brands and are constantly working on cross-branding ideas to achieve an awareness of an alternative to the evil monopoly and the online pretenders. This year was our best yet with all our member companies reporting more appointments, better sales and very happy customers.Not only that, customers really do enjoy the LOFT NYC experience. Many come for a whole day now or even 2 days. It's somewhere you can go that is low pressure, very relaxing, and most of all, fun... as opposed to a typical day on the floor at the show. Our annual party has become an industry standard and people talk about the great time they had and who they met for the rest of the year.What is it about being an independent that makes it worth the hard work?I think it is really about the people we get to meet and work with. We get to connect in a way that larger corporations cannot with retailers and consumers. For us, it is more about a partnership with our retailers. We rely on each other to grow. There is a community which is dedicated to offering a high-level of quality and service to discerning consumers who can appreciate this. We not only believe in this, we are aiming to lead it.www.bevelspecs.com