MYKITA are a German based eyewear brand that prides themselves on their distinctive and innovative designs.
We've been selling their stuff in Seen for over a decade now, so thought it was high time we got around to chatting with the brand's founder and creative director, Moritz Krueger.
Thanks for agreeing to catch up with us, Moritz. For the benefit of anyone that isn't aware of the brand, we better start things off chronologically; how did MYKITA begin life, who was involved from day one?
MYKITA was founded in 2003 in Berlin. As one of the founders and MYKITA’s creative director, I still head the team here at MYKITA HAUS and worldwide
Are your products manufactured solely there, or was there ever a question of outsourcing production to another country?
MYKITA started out in the pioneering spirit that has also shaped the city of Berlin since the 1990s. Due to the novelty of the first design concept – the stainless steel glasses with the distinctive spiral hinge – there was no one equipped to do the production and this pushed MYKITA to set up its own manufacture in-house. Developing our own tools and processes to meet design and production requirements has turned into a principle of how we operate and ultimately one of our greatest assets.
"Service and customer satisfaction is our central focus and so we choose to work with people who are as passionate and enthusiastic about our product and quality as we are." - MK
A quick Google search tells me that your name is roughly based on an abbreviation for Kindergarten, what’s the story behind this?
MYKITA’s first premises were in a former children’s day care centre, called Kita in German, this inspired the name My Kita and also reflected perfectly the culture of curiosity, play and learning that continues to define the company today.
Speaking of names, a lot of your frames sound like they’re named after specific people i.e Lindsay and Lynne. Is that how you choose them, by naming them after someone you know personally?
Some of the frames are named with a specific person in mind, but by now we have so many models and as we can never repeat a name we have to get pretty creative with finding new ones!
"Our collaborations have so far come about quite organically." - MK
Yeah, I guess that must get pretty tricky. Moving on slightly, we know you guys have been producing eyewear since 2003 as MYKITA, but when did you decide to add the MYLON line and what inspired it?
MYKITA is all about combining specialised craftsmanship and adapting new technologies. We launched MYKITA MYLON – the first serially produced eyewear collection made by additive manufacturing – in 2011. These frames are made using a 3D printing technology called Selective Laser Sintering, which is a process that was mainly used in the automotive industry to make small spare parts. To us, this technology was very interesting because of the freedom in design it offers. The MYKITA MYLON collection illustrates this unrestraint with a great range of shapes – from more traditional to daring, directional pieces.
On the subject of daring pieces, some of your most striking and memorable styles have come from your collaborations, how do you decide who you want to collaborate with?
For us, collaborations are ultimately about creating a new product. Our collaborations have so far come about quite organically. We start a conversation and if we see that this can lead to a genuinely new product we find this process really valuable, it energises the company as a whole.
We’ve recently fallen in love with the MYKITA STUDIO collection. Can you tell us anything about any of your upcoming collections?
We have just introduced two new concepts to the MYKITA STUDIO collection. STUDIO 4 is based on a colour-blocking modular concept – a stylish aesthetic that is also fun and playful. STUDIO 5 introduces optical models to the MYKITA STUDIO collection with designs in a reduced material concept that are nevertheless radical in their simplicity.
Exciting stuff! At Seen, we’ve been working with MYKITA since your early days around 2006/2007, and it’s been a pleasure to launch these new collections with you guys. What is important to you when it comes to developing a relationship with a retail store like Seen?
We want to work with selected opticians to build strong, long-term partnership. We seek out shops that can offer holistic support to customers, so not only offering our products but sharing and communicating our values. Service and customer satisfaction is our central focus and so we choose to work with people who are as passionate and enthusiastic about our product and quality as we are.
Sounds like a good philosophy to have. Okay, I think that's about everything for now. Thanks for chatting with us Moritz and we'll look forward to the new collections.
