Anna-Karin Karlsson Claw — Beyond the Original Lens
Anna-Karin Karlsson Claw — Bespoke Rimless Lens Design
Going Beyond the Original Lens
Bespoke Rimless Lens Design · Faceting · Dinamica Grey
Some clients come to Lens Art® with a problem to solve.
Chris tends to arrive with a challenge.
Based in the United States, Chris is no stranger to Lens Art. This is now our third commission together, and with every project he seems increasingly willing to explore what eyewear can become when the lenses are treated as part of the design.
This time, he sent us something extraordinary.
An Anna-Karin Karlsson Claw, limited edition 60 of 60.
The frame already made a statement.
Chris wanted to know what else it could become.
The Frame — Anna-Karin Karlsson Claw
Rimless eyewear is fascinating because there is relatively little conventional "frame".
There is no acetate eyewire surrounding the lens and defining its silhouette. Instead, a handful of components have to create the identity of the entire piece.
The Claw does this exceptionally well.
Its sculptural gold hardware feels substantial in the hand, while those extraordinary claw-shaped hinges give the eyewear an identity that could only really belong to Anna-Karin Karlsson.
It is dramatic.
It is beautifully constructed.
And it is unquestionably a head-turner.
But there was one part Chris wasn't completely convinced by.
The lenses.
Don't Judge a Rimless Frame by the Lenses It Comes With
The Claw originally arrived with completely round tinted lenses.
There was nothing wrong with them.
They were simply Anna-Karin Karlsson's original interpretation of the frame.
And that distinction is important.
With a conventional acetate or metal frame, the eyewire largely dictates the lens shape.
With rimless eyewear, it doesn't.
The lens itself becomes a significant part of the architecture.
Change the lens shape and you can change the entire personality of the eyewear.
Chris could see beyond the original circular lenses.
So rather than asking:
What lenses should we put into this frame?
We asked:
What shape should Chris's Claw actually be?
Designing a New Lens Shape
Because Chris is in the United States, the entire Lens Art consultation and design process took place remotely.
We began by considering the proportions of the frame and the relationship between the existing mounting points and the new lens geometry.
But aesthetics were only part of the equation.
Chris wears a Single Vision Boost prescription lens.
Whatever we created needed sufficient depth and appropriate positioning for the optical design while still achieving the new silhouette we wanted.
That is an important part of bespoke lens design.
Almost anything can look interesting as a drawing.
It still has to work as a prescription lens.
The final shape became a soft, proportionate quadrilateral — substantially different from the original circular lens while retaining enough strength and sculpture to belong alongside the Claw hardware.
From Drawing to Prototype
Before producing Chris's finished prescription lenses, we created physical dummy lenses from the new design.
This allowed us to take the concept off the screen and actually interrogate it.
Width.
Depth.
Proportion.
Mounting position.
Interaction with the claws.
Overall balance.
The prototypes could then be placed against our original template and physically measured before the final prescription lenses were commissioned.
For a frame of this value and complexity, this additional stage mattered.
We weren't relying solely on an illustration of what the finished eyewear might look like.
We were building it first.
Then We Added Another Dimension
Once we had redesigned the perimeter of the lens, there was another opportunity.
The edge.
We created a substantial upper wedge facet, introducing another physical surface into the lens design.
The perimeter determines the silhouette.
The facet determines how part of that silhouette interacts with light.
As the eyewear moves, the upper lens edge catches and releases reflections, giving a material quality to something normally treated purely as an optical component.
That is where rimless eyewear becomes particularly interesting within Lens Art.
The lens is no longer simply something you look through.
It becomes another material to design with.
The Colour — Smokey Grey
Chris has already explored colour with us through previous Lens Art commissions, including OG Winter Berries.
But a successful Lens Art cocktail doesn't mean it should simply be repeated.
The Claw needed its own identity.
Chris wanted this pair darker than the subtle indoor-to-outdoor designs we often create.
This was intended to be a fashion sunglass.
We therefore created a bespoke graduated smokey grey tint.
Against the black and gold construction of the Claw, the grey creates an almost monochromatic background.
The gold hardware then becomes the detail that emerges from it.
Mysterious.
Architectural.
Deliberately darker.
For this commission, restraint didn't mean making the lenses lighter.
It meant restricting the palette.
Dark to Darker — Dinamica Grey
Not every photochromic lens needs to begin clear.
For this commission, we deliberately designed:
Dark → Darker.
The permanent graduated grey establishes the identity of the eyewear from the beginning.
We then combined it with Marma Dinamica Grey photochromic technology.
Under UV, Dinamica continues what the permanent tint has already started.
The grey becomes progressively deeper until the lenses develop towards an almost jet-black sunglass appearance.
Against that darkness, the gold claws become increasingly pronounced.
The photochromic technology isn't being used simply to turn a pair of clear glasses into sunglasses.
It is being used as another layer of the design.
Why Start With Colour?
There are practical reasons for this approach too.
Photochromic performance can vary according to environmental conditions, including temperature and the amount of activating light reaching the lens.
For a pair intended primarily as a fashion sunglass, beginning with a permanent tint means the eyewear already has its intended character before the photochromic technology contributes additional density.
Move outside and Dinamica takes it further.
Move back inside and the lenses return towards the underlying smokey grey rather than becoming completely clear.
For Chris, that was exactly the point.
These weren't designed to do everything.
They were designed to do their job exceptionally well.
Crystal Elite — Knowing When to Stop
There was already plenty happening within this commission.
Black.
Gold.
Smokey grey.
Photochromic transformation.
A completely redesigned silhouette.
A substantial wedge facet.
And, of course, those claws.
We didn't need another dominant reflected colour sitting across the lens surface.
So the final element was Crystal Elite.
The anti-reflective finish keeps residual reflections restrained, allowing the deliberately designed colour, edge treatment and extraordinary frame hardware to remain the focus.
Lens Art isn't always about adding another feature.
Sometimes it is knowing when the composition is complete.
The Finished Lens Art Cocktail
Frame
Anna-Karin Karlsson Claw — Limited Edition 60/60
Client
Chris — USA
Prescription
Single Vision Boost
Lens Shape
Bespoke Lens Art soft quadrilateral
Lens Craft
Custom drilling and substantial upper wedge facet
Base Colour
Bespoke graduated smokey grey
Photochromic
Marma Dinamica Grey
Activated Character
Deep grey towards near-black
Coating
Crystal Elite
Purpose
Fashion sunglass · statement eyewear · changing outdoor light
The Interpretation
What makes this commission special isn't any single element.
It is that everything was considered together.
The prescription affected the shape.
The shape affected the proportions.
The proportions affected the prototype.
The prototype allowed us to develop the facet.
The black and gold frame informed the tint.
The tint informed the photochromic.
The entire composition informed the coating.
Shape. Prescription. Colour. Photochromic technology. Faceting.
Designed together.
And perhaps the most important lesson from Chris's Claw is something much broader:
Never judge the potential of a rimless frame by the lenses it comes with.
The original lens is one interpretation.
Rimless eyewear gives us an unusual opportunity to go beyond the catalogued design and tailor the physical lens itself around the individual.
Chris didn't simply choose a different colour for his Anna-Karin Karlsson.
He saw beyond the original version and made the Claw his own.
The frame was already extraordinary.
Now the lenses belong to it.
Explore Rimless & Faceted Lens Design →
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