Eyewear company Vinylize makes their eyeglass frames from vinyl, harvested from an unusual source: LP records. The frames are cut directly out of pressed LPs.
Company founder Zachary Tipton developed the technique roughly 20 years ago, and today oversees production at their factory in Hungary. "Since 2004 each piece has been assembled in our Budapest workshop by hand," the company writes. "20 people over the course of 6 weeks painstakingly ensure that every detail is perfect."
What I wanted to know was, whose vinyl collections are they looting for the raw material? "The best vinyl comes from London," they explain. "Distributors that have not been able to sell their stock of fresh pressings ship them to us for 'remastering.'"
To provide volume for the frames, each platter is fused to cellulose acetate made from cotton fibers prior to cutting. Then the glasses are polished and assembled by hand.
As for how he got the idea in the first place, Tipton reportedly cut his first pair of frames out of a Creedence Clearwater Revival album belonging to his dad. How pissed was his dad?!?
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Somebody told me that every pair comes with a contract to host your own terrible cooking show on Vice TV.