Posts tagged as 'Asmara'

Eritrea, Asmara, Via Lorenzo Tazaz 26, Foto-Ottica Bini

This building has been my grandfather’s house and shop, in Asmara, since 1948. It was built by the Italians more than one hundred years ago. On the bottom floor there is the optical store were I found the first L.G.R frames and above the apartment were I stay when I go to Asmara.

To me, in terms of style, Asmara relates to Italy like Cuba relates to the United States. Asmara seems like an Italian city stuck in the 1950′s.  The decadent facades of the buldings, the old Fiat cars, men wearing worn out double-chested suits and thick, brown sunglasses.

These nostalgic images inspired me to make L.G.R sunglasses and to bring back from the past forgotten objects that carried old values. With it’s simple and unstated elegance Asmara preserves many precious values that I am trying to express through L.G.R frames.

Raffaello Bini. Asmara, 1936

Some years ago I was in Eritrea, Africa, wandering through my grandfather’s old warehouse of Italian imports, when I discovered a model of sunglasses from a time long forgotten. These beautiful designs, immediately evoked the romanticism of an era long gone by. The merging of two worlds; the adventure of Africa and the glamour of the Riviera. I returned to the original manufacturers and created a line capturing this timeless elegance.