Hasta La Ideas

New York-based designer Nikolas Bentel and his brother Lukas took cues from Instagram face filters when creating these undulated red glasses.

The Squiggle Glasses are shaped like a thin wavy line, partially obstructing the wearer’s view rather than improving their vision.

The Bentel Brothers – comprising Nik and his artist brother Lukas – described the spectacles as “nothing but an aesthetic squiggle for your face”.

“The Squiggle Glasses are purposefully non-functional,” they said in a project description. “We wanted to play with the idea of a purely aesthetic pair of eyewear, which were not useful to see out of but only useful in order to pull off a graphic look.”

The siblings typically work on separate projects – Nik is a resident of the New Museum’s design incubator, while his brother Lukas runs creative studio Hello Velocity. They chose to collaborate on the product in response to the fashion for tiny eyewear, which has grown in recent years.

To develop this concept, they took cues from the filters that Instagram creates for users to playfully cover faces when posting stories. Like with the glasses, the temporary overlays offer bold and statement looks.

“We took a great deal of inspiration from augmented-reality Instagram filters,” said the brothers. “But instead of having a fleeting graphic obtained through integral filters, we wanted to create something more permanent.”

“We would like to see the Squiggle Glasses become the physical embodiment of such filters,” they added. “With the Squiggle Glasses you are able to look down your nose and see a semi-transparent perfect graphic wiggle accenting your face.”

The duo have created three different arms to accompany the Squiggle Glasses, and all versions are currently available for pre-order. One design is orange to match the wavy lens, another is tinted with yellow at the ends, while the third has metal arms.

The Squiggle Glasses follow countless whimsical eyewear ideas, like Andy Warhol-themed sunglasses that reference the artist’s early illustrations, and a set that purposefully emphasises rather than hides high-prescription lenses.

This is not the first time that Nikolas has worked on an unusual design. Last year, the designer reshaped chalk to create architectural drawing toys for children, and undertook an experiment that involved him trying to pass off his naked body as a furniture collection.

His other projects involve chewing pieces of wood to create a functional stool and a range of patterned shirts that change colour in response to air pollution or radioactivity.

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