Melbourne

DAY 1: Arrived pretty early in the morning, around 6am–wanted to get in early as this was going to be a quick trip. Bit of an obstacle getting through immigration and baggage claim, with the sheer amount of arrivals that morning, but after 2 hours we were on our way in to Melbourne central. Nothing like breakfast at Queen Victoria Markets to start the weekend!–spicy lamb/ spinach & feta borek, German bratwurst, freshly baked lemon tarts, ... it was breakfast and lunch lol. (Can't understand why McDonald's stays busy when you have food like this directly across the street?). After a walk down Swanston St. sleep depravation caught up with me, I passed on lunch in St. Kilda and made my way back to our rented apartment in Kew for a power nap.

So apparently, I slept through the "supercell storm"–the worst Melbourne has experienced in 40 years (damn!). Everyone described as like "2010", they saw the clouds roll in over the horizon at St. Kilda beach, and it just went "black" (cool!). The Hearld Sun reported that in addition to heavy rain fall, vehicles were smashed by cricket ball sized hailstones, and people sustained injuries including bruising and welts after being showered with golf-ball sized hail. Parts of Melbourne were flooded, and I ran in to Francis Hooper (designer of WORLD) at Melbourne Airport en route back to Auckland, who told me the roof collapsed at the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria) during the talk he was giving on Saturday, and people had to be evacuated.

Anyhow, no sign of the destruction later that night at dinner with friends in Fitzroy–my favorite dish, the best Spanish seafood paella in town at the Robert Burns Hotel, mmm. From past experience, its difficult to have a bad meal in Melbourne–the food is always amazing.

DAY 2: Our rented apartment in Kew (there are some fantastic architectural homes in this area!) overlooked Dickinson Reserve, the Yarra River and IKEA Richmond, so after breakfast, we checked out IKEA. I love IKEA, not only is everything affordable, but the products have been conceived by some great industrial and product designers. And yes I shopped–without any foresight of how I was going to get everything on the aircraft lol.

In the afternoon, we had lunch with friends at The Cullen–a new concept in boutique hotels located in Prahran, inspired by Australia’s most collectible and exciting contemporary artist, Adam Cullen, winner of the Archibald Prize in 2000. Loved the lemon brûlée tart with fig ice cream and fig paste (... no Max it doesn't look like poo).

A cruise around Commercial Rd. and Chapel St. yielded some potential new stockists for Cassius Eyewear but Commercial Rd. aside, Chapel St. is dominated by labels with their own high-street stores and not many independent fashion boutiques.

Later that night, another amazing meal (dinner at a friend's house in Kew), then fruit-bat watching (a.k.a. megabats), then suspended sensory and motor activity (catching zzz's...).

DAY 3: I'd been looking forward to today, after breakfast in Fitzroy, we braved the crowds/ traffic making their way to Melbourne's Moomba Festival, to see the Ron Mueck exhibition at the NGV. Based in the U.K., Ron Mueck is an Australian hyperrealist sculptor. In 1996 Mueck transitioned in to fine art from model maker and puppeteer (notably for "The Labyrinth", and Jim Henson's "The Storyteller") and rose to critical acclaim when his piece entitled, "Dead Dad", (a silicone and mixed media sculpture of the corpse of Mueck's father reduced to about two thirds of its natural scale, incorporating Mueck's own hair for the finished product), was included in the "Sensation" show at the Royal Academy–courtesy of the Charles Saatchi Collection. 12 pieces of his work were displayed in this NGV exhibition, including the unveiling of 2 new pieces. Incredible–Mueck's scale and sculptural proportions, the attention to detail and realism genuinely belies the painstaking work that has gone in to each piece, apparently each hair is threaded in to the silicone "skin" individually, so do not touch!

In the afternoon, I wanted to check out Brunswick St., Gertrude St., and Thornet so we headed back to Fitzroy. Being a public holiday, few shops were open, however it was enough to see that the main demographic for Cassius Eyewear does and/ or would probably shop for us in this area, more so than say Chapel St. or Melbourne's central–Fitzroy's a little more edgy, (I'm told that street graffiti and tagging is encouraged in this area) and there are more independent fashion boutiques. I have a few leads to follow up on.

In the evening, we headed to Victoria St. for all the Vietnamese restaurants. The meal at Tho Tho was fantastic; prawn spring rolls, tom yum soup, chili & lemongrass chicken, salted deep-fried squid; like I said, difficult to have a bad meal in Melbourne.

We finished off the night with dessert at The Melbourne Supper Club on Spring St. Wonderful, woody, long room full of bulging couches, battered armchairs and weathered floorboards that will make you want to light up that Cohiba. Fine wines and snacks are served in old-world ambience and a jazzy background, with a huge semicircular window looking out over Parliament House. Ambience is helped by the excellent service (err, please don't call me "Sir") and the fact that it's not full of kids lol!

DAY 4: Last day in Melbourne, and I thought it be nice to catch up with some people that are fans and avid supporters of Cassius Eyewear, and have been from the start; Woody and Mafia at Sneaker Freaker, and Andrew and Alex at Acclaim.

Sneaker Freaker is the holy grail of footwear–and stepping in to the Fitzroy offices, you'd think they'd started a warehousing operation lol. Probably not far from the truth, if you got that many kicks sent to you on a regular basis, you'd want to start archiving them. So which big brand does Woody think is making great footwear right now? Adidas. There you have it, better go out and buy some. From what I saw, there's also some great stuff coming out by Puma, Superga and Supra. Woody and Mafia likes Cassius Eyewear, and think we're doing really great stuff–and being quite level headed about it. I have a lot of respect for Woody and received some really great feedback and leads from him.

Melbourne trams are unreliable, so a cab ride after that to the Acclaim offices in Abbotsford to meet up with Andrew and Alex. Acclaim recently hosted Buffet, Australia's first tradeshow and showcase event for contemporary fashion and streetwear. Despite tight deadlines, they pulled it off successfully and garner some positive feedback and reception to the event. Everyone is looking forward to the next event, which will be bigger and better.

I would have liked to meet up with more people while I was there, but with barely minutes to spare, raced to the airport, only to miss our Qantas flight lol. But it wasn't all bad, Qantas changed our flight to the next one at NEC so, that's "1" for Qantas. Yes I will definitely fly "The Spirit of Australia" again.

Melbourne rocks, I'll be back soon!

Cassius Eyewear coming to Viegener Optik, St. Gallen

Located in the main urban centre of eastern Switzerland, Viegener Optik in Old Town has been St. Gallen's exclusive optical and luxury sunglass retailer for over 30 years.

Viegener Optik. Schmiedgasse 35, St. Gallen 9001, Switzerland. Tel: +41 71 222 11 44.

Cassius Eyewear featured in Megane Collection

Japan's Megane (Japanese for 'glasses') Collection magazine, with a 2-page feature story on Cassius Eyewear in the latest issue–on sale now.

Lol should we jack-up CASSIUS X CLAE?

I think Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. would approve.

Cassius Eyewear CORBU Edition X featured at Sneaker Freaker Magazine

Check it. They've been big supporters of Cassius Eyewear from day-1; the superfly team at Sneaker Freaker magazine feature Cassius Eyewear's CORBU Edition X–and Mafia shows #CX002 CORBU Edition X (in Coffee) some on-screen love lol! Too funny.

Massive thanks to Sneaker Freaker Editor, Woody, Mafia and the the guys... catch ya next time I'm in Melbourne!

Cassius Eyewear featured at Werd

Werd is a men's buying guide, focusing on the unique & innovative. Updating 4x daily, Monday-Friday, they're on a quest for new & interesting products. Check it out here.

Skin Fruit at New Museum, New York

Not to be missed!

Skin Fruit, curated by Jeff Koons, is an exhibit at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, featuring selected works from prominent art collector Dakis Joannou’s personal collection–open now until 6 June 2010.

"Including over 100 works by fifty international artists spanning several generations, the exhibition explores the age-old preoccupation with the human body as a vessel and vehicle for experience, a distinctive focus of the collection. Koons’s title “Skin Fruit” alludes to notions of genesis, evolution, original sin, and sexuality. “Skin” and “fruit” evoke the tensions between interior and exterior, between what we see and what we consume. In the exhibition role-playing games and dramas occur: a man will stage a religious ritual; a sculpture literally sings out; white-chocolate monuments tower above visitor’s heads; voracious creatures eat themselves and each other while bodies are buried or frozen."
Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection curated by Jeff Koons
New Museum. 235 Bowery, New York, NY 10002, United States. Tel: +1 212 219 1222

[via Hypebeast]

Behind The Scenes: Cassius Eyewear in Grazia

Early morning fashion shoot, feat. Cassius Eyewear for Grazia magazine. Stay tuned...

Cassius Eyewear featured at Apparel Magazine

Cassius Eyewear was featured in an article by Apparel magazine Editor, Daniel Ahwa, last month. Established in 1969, Apparel magazine is a monthly trade publication offering a comprehensive insight into the clothing, textiles, footwear and accessories industries. Apparel covers every aspect of the fashion industry from marketing, import, wholesale and retail apparel, footwear and textiles, to logistics, technology, recruitment and industry-related education aspects.

Here's the article, and massive thanks to Dan for the write-up;

Eyewear Architect

As the only independently owned eyewear label in New Zealand, CASSIUS IS GAINING A CULT LIKE FOLLOWING OVERSEAS. It’s not surprising then that the brand has a stronger following in major fashion capitals from Amsterdam to Tokyo, a reality that creative director Jason Ng is not going to complain about…

International trend spotting website www.thecoolhunter.net sums up the introduction of New Zealand eyewear label Cassius into the lucrative eyewear market, “In a cluttered market like eyewear - where every designer and his Chihuahua has a range - it’s difficult to stand out. Which is why we were excited to discover Cassius, a hot new brand that hails from New Zealand… The Cassius range takes inspiration from architectural proportions, specifically from the work Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus movement. Cassius applies the sharp clean lines, beautiful solid monochrome colours and classic silhouettes to a range that is individual but still wearable”.

With a slew of celebrity fans from modern day pop icons such as fashion heavy songstresses Lady GaGa and Rihanna, to kiwi talent Ladyhawke, the brand has leveraged off press that most New Zealand designers can only dream of. Creative Director Jason Ng is proud of the young label’s gradual rising popularity within the already saturated eyewear market. Ng’s strong marketing push has seen the label featured in top international publications such as Russh (AUS), Push It (UK), Elle (UK) as well as local publications such as Pilot, M2, Cleo, Metro, Remix and Top Gear. Ng has also been in talks with top fashion stylists Nicola Formichetti and Tabitha Simmons, who both style for some of the world’s top fashion publications such as Dazed and Confused, i-D and Vogue. It is this strong PR push for product placement that is seeing Cassius eyewear quickly gaining a reputation for having a distinctive presence and consistent branding.

“Sales are going strong with amazing new accounts internationally–including Reminence Eyewear flagship stores in Japan; Osaka, Tokyo, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Kumamoto etc. and Akira Chicago, the Modern Art Museum in the USA + New York is our strongest market to date followed by Australia” says Ng. Cassius Eyewear is the only independently owned eyewear label in New Zealand (OHL license Kate Sylvester and Sunshades AUS license Karen Walker) and are only one of three in Australia and New Zealand alongside AM and Colab eyewear. (Ksubi has now been licensed). “We have just signed distribution in France, Germany and Italy. In Italy we are with the same people that did Retrosuperfuture and built that brand to what it is today. They approached Cassius because they love the range and can see the same potential in Cassius, so 2010 is going to be a big year.”

Fans of Cassius eyewear can look forward to a new batch of styles to be released in January 2010, followed by another drop in May/June. “I recently travelled to Hong Kong on a PR trip, and that was really successful meeting up with the likes of Sprial and Jet magazines, Puyi, I.T., Kapok, and talking to Taiwanese movie producers and Channel V Asia about Cassius Eyewear” says Ng. “We’ve locked down North America and we’re now established there already which was the goal for 2009. Our goal for 2010 is to concentrate more on the Asian market like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, China and Japan.”–Apparel Magazine, 24-02-2010

We're liking Matt Van Schie

His tunes are bangin'. Check him out on iTunes.

New Cassius Eyewear stock in-store now at MADE

Including AALTO, CORBU Edition X and MAHER. Check it out...

MADE. 30-32 Custom Street, Britomart, Auckland Central, New Zealand. Tel: +64 9 366 1693

Updates, Updates

Firstly I have to apologize as I've been a little slack with the blog updates this month. Often when there is a little too much going on, the blog becomes very low on the list of priorities. But I should make more of an effort, as it generates a lot of traffic (and brand awareness) when I do update so...

Sales for Cassius Eyewear has been going from strength to strength, and we've been experiencing some phenomenal growth in the past few months; we've just entered Germany and was picked up immediately by the prestigious DepartmentStore Quartier 206 in Berlin (go check it out Berliners!)–sitting alongside Acne, Alexander Wang, Christopher Kane, Helmut Lang, Opening Ceremony, Visvim etc., Karmaloop have just placed yet another order (their third I believe) for Cassius Eyewear, and as anticipated, Cassius Eyewear will be available at Urban Outfitters, throughout North America, from 15th March 2010.

Our appearance at Amsterdam International Fashion Week was extremely successful, and garnered Cassius Eyewear a legion of new fans among European buyers and media/ press–orders are still rolling in, and we're eagerly awaiting press scans from Dutch Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Grazia and Marie Claire. In the U.K., Cassius Eyewear's U.K. office are in full throttle; with sales, the launch this month of their (beta) E-commerce site www.cassiuseyewear.co.uk, and facilitating upcoming press in Dazed & Confused, Elle and The Guardian. Elsewhere in Europe, we welcome our first Cassius Eyewear stockist in Barcelona, Spain–very exciting. Appeal Concept is opening soon, carrying a host of international brands including; Cassius Eyewear (NZ), Complex Geometries (CAN), Marjan Pejoski (UK), Odeur (SWE), and Patrick Mohr (GER). Our East European distributors are selling again, and we hear, potential up-coming Cassius Eyewear stockists in Bulgaria and Greece. All very, very, very d-double o, pe!

Cassius Eyewear stockist, Appeal Concept, Barcelona, Spain [opening soon].

We recently released CORBU Edition X–an update of our popular CORBU, released back in 2008. The updated CORBU Edition X incorporates slight modifications to fit, finish and detail, in keeping with the maxim "less is more". Hand-crafted from European acetate and the highest quality lenses, CORBU Edition X is offered in Black and 3 new colors that pay homagé to retro Bakelite–and modifications take in to account, a better and more comfortable fit for our Asian and African-American customers. Black is selling fast predictably, closely followed by Coffee, Ivory and Mustard. Our next release in scheduled for Northern Hemisphere spring/ summer 2010. Check out the CASSIUS ® Store.

I'm off at the end of the week, for a last-minute vacation to Melbourne–for a much needed short-break. I'm hoping to catch up with friends, but no doubt there will be some work involved, as I have already scheduled a tentative meeting with a potential distributor. Other than that, I plan to spend most of my time sleeping, eating, and at hanging out at Fitzroy, Melbourne Museum, National Gallery of Victoria, Prahran, St. Kilda, etc. Cant' wait.

Oh and while I'm away, we are finally splashing out on new carpet here! Yeah!