David Lynch... Bjork... Spike Jonze… some people are never short of creative ideas. We’d maybe add Kuboraum founders Livio Graziottin and Sergio Eusebi to the list too.
Not content with making some of the most mind-bendingly majestic shades around, over the last few years they’ve have been branching out beyond the eyewear realm under the Innerraum name, applying their unique design aesthetic to bags, jewellery and whatever else they feel like.
As you’d expect from the folks behind Kuboraum, they don’t pull any punches, forging full bore into the future with designs that could maybe be best described as ‘if HR Giger managed a motocross team’, or maybe ‘if The Matrix was a documentary’. That fancy word recontextualization is the name of the game here—recycling parts and pieces designed for one function, and reappropriating them for something wildly different. Their clutch bags made from motorcycle body armour are a prime example of what we’re talking about.
Anyway, the main reason we’re writing all this is that Innerraum have just released their new range of eyewear. Whilst this might sound a little confusing considering that Kuboraum already make glasses anyway, there’s definitely enough variation here to make the Innerraum collection worth making.
Think of it like when your favourite band launches a side-project—same musicians, different instruments. Whilst Kuboraum are renowned for their chunky, technicolor acetate frames, Innerraum’s spectacles are an altogether more minimalist affair, combining sleek wireframes with some curveball details.
Here are a few standouts…
The O01 frames are a prime example of the Innerraum style. Rimless round lenses are combined with an intersecting top bar and that unique bridge to create something the likes of which we’ve never really seen before. For something similar, but different—the O02 frames use that rimless design on some slightly sportier elongated lenses for a definite ‘bike courier in Neo Tokyo’ vibe.
Innerraum call the 020 frames ‘the ultimate aviators’, and they might be onto something. These futuristic beauties drag that classic US Air Force design right into the 23rd century with elaborate layered temples that are particularly hard to describe with mere words. Good job we’ve got photos, isn’t it?
The O24s are the ever-so-slightly more angular siblings of the 020, with lenses that sit somewhere between ovals and trapezoids. Whatever shape they are—we love ‘em—especially with that T-shaped nose-bridge linking them together.
Where do we start with these? Triple bridge… titanium nose-pads… that bonkers browline design… just like with Kuboraum, Innerraum’s designs are far from style over substance, with each pair handmade in Italy to exceedingly high standards. See them for yourself and you’ll get what we’re on about.
The key feature of the OJ7 frames is probably that sculptural browline that’s made of individual intersecting metal pieces screwed together—a true feat of engineering which works perfectly with those rectangular lenses. The word ‘futuristic’ comes up quite a lot when talking about Innerraum—but if the future looks anything like the OJ7s then it’s looking very bright indeed.
Like what you see? Head over to the Innerraum page here to see the full collection, or head on down to our Manchester store to see it in the flesh. Just one thing we should probably mention—this stuff is very limited, and we’ve just got one pair of each colourway… so if there’s something you’re after, then don’t hang around for too long.
