MEET DAVID ROSE, SALT. OPTICS HEAD DESIGNER:

TELL US ABOUT YOUR DESIGN PROCESS:

 ”One of the biggest things is fit, for us. So fit first. Get the fit right, and then we move into materials whether its acetate or titanium. Nature comes into play with the color aspect. As you’re looking at nature, it pairs color so well. You never look at nature and say ‘well, those colors just don’t go together.’  We’ve got a very nice organic color palette to our brand.”

HOW DO YOU ENSURE QUALITY WITH EACH PAIR?

“We want a quality product, that’s why we put so much time and effort into the frames we make. We select the best materials; we select the best factories in Japan. I’ve been fortunate to see the best and the worst that manufacturing has to offer. That’s why we work solely with factories in Japan, because the attention to detail, the craftsmanship, the quality, the pride that goes into what they’re doing is by far the best that I’ve seen”.

WHAT VINTAGE EYEWEAR ARE YOU INSPIRED BY?

“Now, we’re more into the 70s/80s. You started to see more aviator acetate shapes. With our last collection, there was a lot of inspiration coming from that time period with the thinner profiles. There’s a clean, timeless aesthetic to that period, and I hope that’s the way our brand comes across. Our frames maintain that timeless feel to them; they’re relevant today, tomorrow”.

WHERE DO YOU SPEND TIME IN NEWPORT?

 ”So obviously the beach, being in the ocean. I do a fair bit of running, and I love to go to El Morro, and run in the hills. It is so awesome just to get out and find your own trek; there are so many trails out there. I think that’s one of my favorite places because you come into areas where there are lush settings that you would expect in there, but then you get the higher peaks where you’re overlooking the ocean, and then you get into the dryer areas with sagebrush”.