Silmo design student award-winner Thomas Deneufbourg holds his winning specs alongside Silmo president Amélie Morel and judging panel chair Olivier Jault

A pair of glasses designed for people with autism, anxiety and other forms of neurodiversity has won Silmo’s 2024 Optical Design Contest.

Launched two years ago, the award was developed to encourage design and fashion students to consider eyewear as part of their design portfolios, said Silmo organisers. “It’s a stepping stone for the next generation, designed to stimulate creative innovation in eyewear through the eyes of students from design schools around the world.” Open to all students who have done at least two years at a tertiary design facility, this year’s theme was ‘The evolving role of accessory eyewear’.

Announcing the winner, judging panel chair, French accessories and footwear designer Olivier Jault, said the judges were looking for fashion and function in the winning design. The winning frames, called Distroal, which means ‘calming’ in the Breton language, were designed by Thomas Deneufbourg and Adrien Gallois from L’École de design Nantes Atlantique. They were a perfect example of using form and function to create something different, Jault said. “Jury members agreed they thought the product was remarkable.”

Lucid by Perrine Payen

Special mention was also given to Lucid by Perrine Payen, from French design school Rubika, who took inspiration for her design from old monocles and pocket watches. Though her elegant magnifying glasses couldn’t really be described as ‘frames’, so couldn’t win, the design aesthetic really “seduced” the jury, said Jault, adding it brought to mind a quote he attributed to visionary designer Pierre Cardin: “To design for the future, you have to know the past”.