If you’re like us, you’ll have a drawer full of unwanted sunglasses. Scratched ones you can’t bring yourself to throw away, bought-on-a-whim and instantly regretted ones, cheap ones that never break but seem to refract sunlight onto your eyeballs rather than protect them from it … And all this because buying a decent pair of shades is a virtual guarantee that you’ll lose them. It’s the Murphy’s law of sunglasses.
Given the amount of sun we see during a typical British summer, this isn’t generally an insurmountable problem. However, spending time without a pair of quality UV-resistant sunglasses in the mountains, where snow reflects up to 85% of the sun making for at least double the potential sun damage, is the best way to cause irreversible damage to your eyes. Lunches on sunny terraces, après-ski beers on the hill and those cheeky moments on the chairlift trying to even out your tan can all result in burning your cornea or eyelids.
Model Rhona
So, here’s our solution: spend so much money on a pair of sunglasses that they basically challenge you to lose or break them (and are worth claiming back on your insurance should they escape your clutches). To this end, we present WooDone glasses. Handmade in a small factory in Italy’s mountainous South Tirol region, these glasses are crafted exclusively from local and recycled natural products with the notable exception of the lenses: German ZEISS precision lenses.
Model Nessa
Each WooDone frame is carved from a single piece of composite wood comprising eight layers of chipboard from recycled South Tirolean acacia, chestnut, cherry and walnut. Clever technology enables the wood’s natural grain to run the length of the frame which, combined with invisible screwless flex hinges, creates a seamless finish and unique design each time. The plain wood frames, which come in 23 different shapes, are then finished with a non-toxic varnish for a hard-wearing pair of environmentally friendly shades that weigh in at a mere 13 grams. (Just in case you’ve never weighed sunglasses, a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers weigh in at 45 grams.)
Model Terra Mata
Further cleverness comes in the special glue developed by the WooDone team factory to bond the different layers of wood in their frames: when heated (by a professional fitter with equipment, not you with a Bunsen burner), it softens just enough to enable gentle flex so your frame can be adjusted for a custom fit. It’s kind of like ski-boot fitting for your face.
The wood finishes are “mountain man” low key, but we like the new Nature collection, which features wooden frames adorned with vibrant-green wych elm leaves, golden hay and (for the ladies) hand-picked dried roses or violets. Top of the range is Bling: a coating of galena, a quartz mineral dust sourced from the Dolomites, is applied to the wood frame of your choice, creating a granular, deep-grey metallic finish that sparkles subtly in the sunshine.
Model Terra Mata
We realise that splashing the cash to keep hold of a pair of sunglasses is a punchy suggestion. However, we’re willing to bet that, once you’ve actually worn a pair of feather-light WooDone sunglasses and appreciated the exceptional clarity of the lenses, you’ll agree wholeheartedly with our logic.
