Yoshinori Aoyama is a Japanese designer who arrives at eyewear from the world of sculpture and industrial design. His brand, founded in 2010, treats each frame as a miniature architectural project: every curve has a reason, every thickness is calculated, every joint is a solution to a formal problem.
The materials of choice are hand-worked titanium and Japanese acetate of the highest quality. The shapes are often asymmetric or have unusual sculptural details — not in the decorative sense of the term, but in the sense of a studied three-dimensionality that changes appearance depending on angle and light.
Production takes place in a small atelier in Tokyo, with extremely limited runs. Aoyama personally oversees every phase of the production process, from drawing to final quality control. Some models require weeks of work for just a few pieces.
Yoshinori Aoyama is one of those brands that true eyewear connoisseurs know and actively seek out. There is no marketing, only the reputation built piece by piece, wearer by wearer.