Genesis

We sat down with Larma Studio’s Co-founder Julia La Mendola to find out more about the eyewear brand’s launch and first collection

After blood, sweat and hopefully, not too many tears, designer duo Ania Marincek and Julia La Mendola officially launched their avant-garde eyewear label Larma Studio yesterday. The first collection Genesis comprises five full-character looks and a collection of sunglasses to pair with them. The co-founders met whilst studying at university and became close friends after La Mendola designed the accessories for Marincek’s fashion design graduate collection, Tears of Lava, which we featured last month.

Born in Montreal to a Sicilian father and half-Canadian, half-German mother, La Mendola and her family relocated to Switzerland when she was five. Keen to stay in Geneva for university, she applied to study Product, Jewellery and Fashion Accessories Design at Haute Ecole d’Art et Design (HEAD) in Geneva. Quite the jet-setter, La Mendola completed her exchange semester in Barcelona and an internship in leatherwork in Montreal before eventually settling in Switzerland. By the end of her studies, she had refined her practice to jewellery and eyewear design.

Since we already heard from Marincek about getting ready for the launch, we thought we would check in with her business partner about how it went and Larma Studios’ next steps.

Œ: Congratulations on launching Larma Studio’s first collection, I’m sure you’re over the moon! Could you start by explaining the concept behind Larma Studio?

La Mendola: Thank you! *La Mendola grins* We are very proud and excited to launch our very first commercial collection. Larma is an independent fashion accessories brand produced with a responsible and regenerative approach. We create high-quality products made from deadstock and recycled materials. Each piece is handcrafted in Italy within a short production cycle, as part of a limited edition series.

We imagined eyewear as jewellery for the first collection. Each piece is made with pearl and colourful acetates, combining texture, bright colours and bold designs. The materials are sourced from the eyewear industry’s waste. We created five styles that can also be seen as five different characters. When we show people the collection for the first time, I find it fascinating to observe which model they naturally gravitate towards – it says a lot about their personality.



Œ: Who are these five characters and what they represent?

La Mendola: I would say that the different models do not represent five established characters per se because the objective is not to confine or stereotype a style to a type of person. On the contrary, the idea was to create five models that differ in shape, size, colours and treatment of volumes, so people can appropriate one of the models and mould it to their own identity.

Œ: Am I right in assuming the name of Larma’s first collection – Genesis – is a biblical allusion? 

La Mendola: Exactly! *La Mendola laughs* It might seem a bit phoney, but we liked the hyperbolic feel of it. It sounds very dramatic but equally mysterious, absurd and spectacular. I would love to see our sunglasses appear and suddenly disappear in a David Lynch movie. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, let us present to youuu Genesissssssss.’ 



Œ: Are the glasses fashion wear only or do you offer them with prescriptions?

La Mendola: Funnily enough, that is the most recurrent question we have received so far! Unfortunately, no, they are purely for fashion. But we are considering widening our range to optical frames for future collections. The coloured lenses can however be replaced by prescribed ones by an optician.

Œ: We spoke to your business partner and fellow Co-founder of Larma Studio Ania Marincek last month. How did you initially meet?

La Mendola: We met during our preparatory year at HEAD. We were in different classes as Ania studied Fashion Design, but we always got along well even though we weren’t ‘that close’. Our collaboration started when she asked me to design the sunglasses and jewellery for her BA graduate collection Tears of Lava. We loved working together and as we became close friends, we decided to build our studio, blending our creations.



Œ: How do the two of you coordinate your tasks at Larma Studio?

La Mendola: We have quite an intertwined practice, which is not convenient every day. The design and creative direction is the part we work together most. We are very lucky to be almost 100% on the same wavelength for that part. We have very similar visions and tastes and understand each other very well in that sense. When it comes to delegating the tasks for production management, communications, and technical drawings, we split the work from task to task and are both gradually assigning ourselves fixed duties. 

Œ: Your speciality is accessory design. What made you gravitate towards studying this at university? 

La Mendola: I grew up in a creative environment, my parents were independent jewellers and since I was little, I was drawing all the time in their studio. I never really questioned it, as I always knew I would pursue a creative career. My studies at HEAD were very diverse, I had the opportunity to explore many different fields, such as jewellery making, product design, casting, watch design and so on. But I really found myself in the development of fashion accessories and eyewear design workshops.

Œ: What differences do you encounter as an eyewear designer as opposed to creating garments?

La Mendola: Eyewear design is pretty complex because it requires a lot of technical knowledge and constraints, and the industrial production approach is very different from small-scale production. We also need to work with many different suppliers and manufacturers, whether for the materials, lenses, packaging, cases or cleaning cloths.

Œ: Any exciting projects in the pipeline? 

La Mendola: Well, the launch of the first collection! It’s a big accomplishment, and we are super excited to finally see the light! Besides launching our e-shop, we will be setting up a crowdfunding campaign shortly, so keep an eye on our Instagram and website. As for the the next collection, some cool jewellery is on the programme! 



Œ: Where do you see Larma Studio in the next five years? 

La Mendola: Since we are just debuting as a company we decided to start small with one typology of product, which is already a LOT to manage! As we grow, become more established as a business and acquainted with the production and management issues, we would love to expand our product range to jewellery, objects, shoes and bags… The sky’s the limit!