The 2021 Silmo d’Or award winners with judging chair Jean-Christophe Leblanc (third from left) and Silmo president Amelie Morel (second from right)

Perhaps a more conservative financial decision, this year’s Silmo d’Or ceremony was held at the exhibition centre. Regardless, the evening was an absolute delight. The Silmo team managed to pack in all the glamour expected from the Silmo d’Or awards, and the champagne flowed. Silmo president Amelie Morel wowed the crowd in a beautiful floor-length sequined gown and the Grand Jury was led by art director Jean-Christophe Leblanc, who worked on Silmo’s incredible 50th anniversary celebrations at the Grand Palais in 2017 and regularly designs runway sets for Chanel.

The winners were:

• Children: JF Rey’s innovative, beautifully designed and named Tra La La frame. Made entirely of silk-screened acetate with delicate floral detailing across the rim, the frame is ergonomic with a nice covering height and equipped with interchangeable OBE flexUno hinge.

Tra La La

• Sport: Metaoptics with Metasport Shield. These corrective mono-shields are compatible with the popular mono-shields sports glasses on the market, regardless of brand. They are available in single vision and progressive lenses in a wide prescription range of +6.00D to -7.00D.

Metasport shields

• Technological Innovation: Rolf’s Amur 2 plant-based frames. The raw material comes from a species of Euphorbiaceae, a fast-growing tree that’s easy on the environment. The flexible, skin-friendly frame and hinges are 3D printed in one step.

Amur 2

• Vision: Transitions Optical’s XTRActive Polarized. Designed to defy glare Transitions’ new photochromic polarized lenses use a breakthrough, exclusive, multi-layer matrix that hosts broad-spectrum dyes for more darkness and ultra-fast dichroic dyes especially tuned to high-glare light. “Having broken the paradigm of conventional polarisation and traditional photochromics, we are honoured to receive recognition with Silmo d’Or,” said Stuart Cannon, Transitions Optical Asia Pacific general manager. “Transitions XTRActive Polarised addresses the need for extra darkness for wearers who are frequently exposed to bright light and reflective glare. Outdoors, vision is sharper with wearers experiencing a larger view and more vivid colours."
  

XTRActive Polarized

• Material / Equipment: MEI’s EasyFit Trend, a block-less, compact solution tailored for optical shops and small labs.

• Optical Frame (brands & labels): Eschenbach Optik’s Mini eyewear, sporting an oversized squared acetate shape with stand-out rivets, due to unique lamination on the front of the frames.

Mini eyewear

• Sunglasses (brands & labels): Maison Sarah Lavoine X Ateliers Roussilhe with Thyra. A French frame with a square and oversized shape inspired by the ‘70s for a very feminine, chic and casual look; made of bioacetate by Mazzucchelli.

Thyra

• Optical Frame (eyewear designer): Henau’s Lunam, combining acetate with titanium and a minimalist hinge, perfectly integrated with the acetate face.

Lunam

• Sunglasses (eyewear designer): Rigards for its model RG2046WD, which draws on strong architectural geometries and incorporates a range of materials including salvaged wood, aerospace-grade aluminium-magnesium, ultralight beta-titanium and flexible stainless steel, with zero plastic for sustainability.

Rigards' RG2046WD

• Special Jury prize: Vava Eyewear’s Cl0015, 3D printed using a castor-oil-based polyamide. Designed with Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, the frames include patented hinges made from super-light aluminium.

• Premiere Classe: Histoire de Voir for its leather-trimmed eyewear concept, Fil S8.

Fil S8