Sunshine Bertrand
CHLOÉ to GIVENCHY, LONDON to IBIZA: creating eyewear for fashion’s luxury leaders
Sunshine Bertrand designs eyewear for world-renowned luxury fashion brands including Chloé, Givenchy, Kenzo and Lucy Folk. Leading creative direction and trend forecasting alongside showing the way for responsible design and supporting sustainable materials innovation, Sunshine Bertrand balances aesthetics and commerciality for their clients.
Sunshine Bertrand created her namesake company, following a fine art education, having worked in fashion as a stylist and trend forecaster and heading up eyewear at Victoria Beckham for 8 years.
Eyewear design and production differs from other fashion products as designs have to adhere to standards for eye and face protection, which takes into consideration elements including UV requirements, heat resistance of metal, colour and size of the lenses. With these kinds of standards in place you really need an expert to navigate creating fashion forward eyewear that is fit for purpose, even before producing samples. Thankfully designing to strict standards and bringing creative concepts to life is Sunshine Bertrand’s forte.
Passionate about supporting the eyewear industry to make better choices, inspiring and educating from within large brands, through their sustainability reporting (which is freely available online) and ‘Sun Quest’ initiative, described as ‘Gathering a community to illuminate a healthier eyewear industry’, Sunshine Bertrand aim to make eyewear more sustainable.
Thanks to an introduction from our mutual friend, Roxy Houshmand-Howell, founder of The Right Project, I met Sunshine at one of my favourite restaurants, Farmacy in west London. Our discussion centred about fashion, the intricacies and challenges of the eyewear industry, motherhood and a place close to my heart, Ibiza. I have to say Sunshine’s approach to life is so refreshing and completely inspiring. It’s pretty unusual that a six months pregnant first-time mum will have just come back from India because they ‘fancied a bit of adventure’. It’s also pretty rare that you can shape your life and business in the vision you actually want it to be, living in Ibiza, with an office in London and visiting clients in Paris, Italy, Milan and further a field.
This time around at Sunshine’s London office, we carry on the conversation and find out why it’s not that strange for Sunshine to live between destinations or to follow a call for adventure. We also learn what it takes to be the go-to business that creates iconic eyewear for fashion’s luxury leaders.
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Sunshine Bertrand in her office in London
“I haven’t grown up with a lot fear I don’t think. I don’t fear a lot of things, I don’t worry about things too much. Maybe that’s the intuitive thing, I know it’s going to be good, I know it’s [being adventurous] going to be good for me.”
Chloé Poppy octagon sunglasses created with Sunshine Bertrand
“I credit my little love of luxury to her [my grandmother] because even though she had no money, just the way that she would style herself, she’d wear a little bit of leopard almost every day…She’d tie the perfect bow, or make the perfect sandwich and come down to the beach with it on a tray in little terry towelling high heels and her hair all up in a turban. That to me is luxury...Beautiful levels of taste and living beautifully. ”
Lucy Folk Journeyman sunglasses created with Sunshine Bertrand
portrait photos taken by bec o'conner for black neon digital
podcast recorded at sunshine’s office, east london
30.06.2019
