A Shade of Blue | Tom Ford TF5872-B | Lens Art® Interpretation
A Shade of Blue
A Lens Art® Interpretation
Frame
Tom Ford TF5872-B — Gloss Black
A substantial black acetate Tom Ford TF5872-B with enough presence to carry colour.
The frame already had something of a sunglass character. Bold proportions, deep black acetate and warm metal detailing gave us a strong architecture to work around.
The question wasn't whether the frame needed more.
It was what the lenses could bring to it.
Story
Paulo came to see us from Brazil with a photograph.
It showed Brazilian businessman and socialite Count Chiquinho Scarpa wearing a bold black frame with tinted lenses.
Paulo wasn't asking us to reproduce the glasses in the photograph.
It was what they were doing for him that interested him.
Modern. Sophisticated. Slightly mysterious. Youthful. Cool. Confident.
That became our starting point.
Paulo had been wearing glasses for presbyopia for several years, but until now they had largely remained something functional — something he needed to wear.
This commission was an opportunity to approach them differently.
To make the lenses part of his style.
Paulo already knew one thing.
He wanted blue.
But blue isn't a specification.
Navy. Baby blue. Petrol. Steel. Smoky blue. Some lean towards grey. Others towards green.
Each changes the character of a frame differently.
And with ophthalmic lenses, there is another consideration.
Colour isn't only something other people see.
It's something the wearer experiences every time they look through the lens.
So we worked through the possibilities until we found a blue Paulo genuinely enjoyed looking through.
Then we designed around it.
Technical Interpretation
The foundation of the commission is a bespoke blue lens tint, developed specifically for Paulo and his Tom Ford TF5872-B.
Against the heavy gloss-black acetate, the blue introduces colour without taking away the strength of the frame.
But Paulo wanted more than a permanently tinted lens.
When he stepped outside, he wanted the eyewear to become properly dark.
So rather than allowing the lenses to simply transition from clear to dark, we combined our underlying custom blue tint with Transitions® Gen S™ Sapphire photochromic technology.
The result creates two related expressions of the same lens.
Indoors, Paulo's bespoke blue remains visible.
As the Transitions Sapphire activates outdoors, the lenses become progressively deeper, smokier and richer.
The underlying colour remains part of the composition rather than disappearing beneath a neutral sunglass tone.
There was a reason for choosing Sapphire rather than simply taking the lens towards grey.
Grey could have pushed this Tom Ford towards a much more blackout aesthetic.
Sapphire allows us to retain some of the character of the blue as the lens darkens.
And when the photochromic layer fades again, the lenses don't return to clear.
They return to Paulo's blue.
These aren't simply Transitions lenses with a standard colour selected from a menu.
We created the underlying tint ourselves, then combined that colour with the photochromic technology.
The final consideration was the coating.
We selected Crystal Elite because the intention wasn't to introduce another obvious reflected hue across the lens surface.
The coating needed to support the design rather than compete with it.
Custom blue.
Transitions Gen S Sapphire.
Crystal Elite.
Gloss-black Tom Ford acetate.
Each element was chosen to work with the next.
Not simply a tinted lens.
A visual experience designed around the person wearing it.
Watch This Commission
A Shade of Blue — Paulo's Tom Ford TF5872-B
Follow the complete Lens Art® commission, from Paulo's original reference photograph and colour consultation through to the finished custom tinted Transitions lenses.
Commission Details
Frame: Tom Ford TF5872-B
Frame colour: Gloss Black
Lens type: Prescription lenses
Lens design: Bespoke custom tint + photochromic
Base colour: Custom blue tint
Photochromic technology: Transitions® Gen S™ Sapphire
Lens finish: Crystal Elite
Application: Presbyopia
Service: Lens Art® bespoke lens design / luxury reglazing
Designed by: Lens Art® at The Optical Gallery, London
About This Commission
This commission demonstrates something that can easily be overlooked when choosing eyewear.
The frame doesn't have to be the finished design.
A client may already own a Tom Ford, Jacques Marie Mage, Cartier, Chrome Hearts, Masunaga, Matsuda, AHLEM or another exceptional frame they love.
That doesn't necessarily mean they need another frame to create something different.
Changing the lenses can completely reinterpret the eyewear they already own.
Through luxury reglazing and bespoke lens design, Lens Art® can explore custom lens colours, prescription tints, tinted photochromic lenses, Transitions® technologies, specialist coatings, flash mirrors, lens shaping, faceting and other finishing techniques.
But the objective isn't to add technology for its own sake.
It is to understand the person.
How they live.
What they wear.
What they already love about their eyewear.
And how they want to experience it.
Then we design the lenses accordingly.
For Paulo, it began with a photograph.
Not a product.
Not a lens specification.
Just an idea of how he wanted his glasses to feel.
We didn't copy it.
We interpreted it for him.
Commission Your Own Lens Art®
You don't need to purchase a new frame to commission Lens Art®.
We regularly work with clients' existing eyewear, including luxury, collector and discontinued frames, as well as newly purchased pieces.
Your commission can begin with something as specific as a colour or as abstract as a photograph, an outfit, an object, a memory or simply how you want your eyewear to feel.
From there, we interpret.
