THE MONC BLOG

The eyewear industry is littered with problems. One of the most poignant is waste.  We partnered with the BA Product and Industrial Design students at Central Saint Martins to rethink some of these issues. Visiting their 2024 degree show, we got to see all the amazing ideas they have been working on.

Helena Elston describes herself as a regenerative textile and fashion designer, mycologist, sustainable thinker, alchemist, and innovator. Her work centers around incorporating mycelium as a decomposer and applique in hand-sewn garments. Inspired by her use of mycelium, we reached out to Helena and a creative collaboration began.

To complement our new colour capsule and bring a touch of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show to Chiltern Street, we teamed up with Holly from FLWR. Holly and her team filled our window with ferns, diasca, petunias, ameria, clematis and lemon thyme.

Our stand was designed to spark conversation around the eyewear industry. Our screen-printed brand manifesto and custom-built ‘materiality counter’, showcasing the origins and ingredients of our products and packaging, told the story of why and how we aim to make better eyewear. 

We’re never more glad to call Chiltern Street our home than when Summer comes around. Neighbours create the very unique community feel of the area, so when it came to photographing our new colour capsule, we decided to enlist their help. Explore our new colour capsule and meet our neighbours below.

On the journey of designing our new mycelium packaging, we’ve been exposed to the wonderful world of fungi, and it has been truly fascinating. One of the best parts of working with mycelium has been the people this material has led us to, including Lorraine and Jodie from the Caley Brothers, the talented duo behind our living fungi wreath.

A farm is not what you might tend to associate with eyewear, but sharing the same key values, MONC found its way to GROW. Last week we had the pleasure of visiting GROW, our new Charity Partner via 1% for the Planet.

We visited the Magical Mushroom company's Esher factory to see how this industry disrupting material is replacing plastics in the packaging industry.

 

Our new packaging harnesses the potential of agricultural waste and fungi, one of the world’s oldest natural recycling systems. Grown from mycelium, the root-like system of fungi, it is home-compostable within 45 days.

Introducing the MONC X Monocle reedition Chiltern frame. A collaboration by Chiltern street neighbours, this redesign of our iconic Chiltern frames celebrates subtle sophistication with a powerful silhouette.

In response to the rapid succession of eyewear brands appearing and disappearing, we wanted to touch on sustainable retail design and low impact visual merchandising that we believe should be the norm.

When designing Södermalm, we poured ourselves over an archive of eyewear inspiration, and in doing so, we came across the story of a remarkable woman with a story worth celebrating.