Millmead partners with Yair Neuman for lens waste installation

Jai Kudo Lenses, part of the Millmead Optical Group, has formed a collaboration with the designer, Yair Neuman.

Through the partnership, Neuman will design and create a sculpture made from the lens swarf and discarded demo lenses from Millmead’s production.

The installation aims to raise awareness of the sustainability issues surrounding industrial lens waste.

Sharing that “over 3000 tonnes of lens waste ends up in landfill each year in the UK alone,” Millmead’s CEO, James Conway, shared that the collaboration is “unapologetically intended to be highly visible and perhaps even provocative.”

“We believe that provocation provides illumination, promotes discussion and often ignites intelligent thinking,” he continued. “We believe that such an installation will raise the profile of the issue and help focus minds on the problem in a truly creative, engaging, and meaningful manner, whilst celebrating the power of artistic story-telling.”

The collaboration ties in with a new strategy that the company has announced for Jai Kudo lenses, called ‘See the Light.’

Commenting on the plans, Neuman said: “Art has the power to inspire us to reflect on our identity and lifestyle choices, and that notion is brought into even sharper relief when considering the physical form and qualities inherent in an optical lens.”

Neuman will be exhibiting a variety of his own designs at 100% Optical. Going forwards, he said the partners anticipate extending the collaboration into a signature range of recycled products across Millmead’s three main brands: Jai Kudo Lenses, Continental Eyewear, and Optoplast.

The range would be made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), Neuman said, “and will celebrate a very significant message about how sustainability and style can comfortably co-exist, whilst starting important conversations about our place on the planet.”

“The fact that these items have all existed in a previous form, and will enjoy a kind of renaissance as a completely new item of fashion or medical item, makes the range altogether more exciting and nuanced as a concept.”