In a world that sometimes feels like it’s slowly getting taken over by virtual meetings and AI poem apps, do you think we will always be able to spot the human touch when we see it? Or will we find that in a year or two we’ve actually all been uploaded to the cloud and everything we see and touch and interact with is just a computer-generated copy of a copy of a copy?
If it’s any comfort, we reckon there are some things a computer won’t ever be able to fake. Think about all those crackly old blues records that formed the basis for popular music. Name any artist around today and you can trace their influences back to those same records, to Odetta, Blind Willie Johnson, and to Charley Patton. It doesn’t matter how many technological advances there are, there’s a human depth to those recordings that you will never be able to recreate at a push of a button.
HUG Spectacles, the latest brand to join the Seen shelves also represents the magic of the human touch. Not just in the literal meaning of its name but through the story it tells of the three friends who started it, from whose names it takes a letter each.
Thomas Hobmaier, Federic Utz, and Jochen Gutbrod share over 60 years of experience working with eyewear. They were united by a passion for quality craftsmanship, classic design, and, yes, delta blues. After working together on and off over the last couple of decades, they’ve finally got together on their own brand with all that experience, friendship and shared passion now visible in the details of the frames. Ok Chat GPT, we’d like to see you do that.
We’re proud to present the debut collection from HUG here at Seen. With each frame named after an influential blues singer, it’s a collection full of classics — robust square frames, cat eyes straight off a 50s film set, elegantly shaped round frames.
The collection is made in Germany by just one production partner, who, HUG says, are responsible for the most brilliant results they have seen. Add the best quality materials into the mix - hinges, acetates, temple inlays - and you can see why we think HUG are on to something special.
Take a look at some of the highlights from the collection below and see the full collection here.
The Johnson by HUG is a sturdy square frame with a confidently angular design.
Each frame features HUG's triangular plectrum emblem and a textured temple wire core, like this on the Patton.
There's a lot of good stuff going on in HUG's Peebles. A classic, almost tear drop lens shape and a perfectly executed grey fade acetate. Nice touch with the engraved HUG logo on the inner core, right?
Nothing says 'down to every last detail' like excellently executed packaging. Not only is HUG-branded leather case included with every frame simply gorgeous, the premium boxes that everything comes in are perfect. HUG, we applaud you.
