Q&A Catherine Federici | Sunglasses Designer
Designer Catherine Federici is behind the cool and original Isson Eyewear sunglasses. With her background in Industrial Design, you will not only end up with sunglasses that are unique and fashionable but also lots of thought behind in quality and functionality. She also shares some of her other passions, interesting projects and quirky habits. Start a conversation and share something from your world too!
Name: Catherine Federici
Nick name: Kid cat (circa 1987)
Profession: Eyewear/ Sunglasses designer, Isson Eyewear | Eye Candy Optics
Location: Weirdo end of Paddington, Sydney Australia
Passion: Happiness
How I got my break:
Not sure if you would call it a ‘break’… we saved some pennies and started an eyewear business with the best partner in the universe, my (now) husband. 7 years on and going strong.
My 3 top tips for success:
Do it for as long as you love it. Keep your business operation lean. Do what you say you will. Adopt change to suit the current market forces. Sorry, that’s 4 tips…
My style in a sentence:
Low maintenance gal, pony tail and rarely make-up…. denim, sneakers and really wrong t-shirts ideally from Japan with spelling atrocities. I think that’s the nerd in me. Today, I saw a t-shirt that said “Elect Ron”. Sooo geeky, it’s a must have.
Travel destination and tips:
Hong Kong is the bomb! Fast, efficient, straight talking, easy-peasy metro and yum-cha like you’ve never had it! Did you know yum-cha means ‘drink tea’? I’ve been told it’s more about drinking tea and having a light snack rather than a 2 hours gluttonous experience.
I bet you didn’t know I can: Turn my belly button inside out..
I get my inspirations from:
Generally speaking, I am inspired by the underdog – those who were told it couldn’t be done, but pulled it off in the end. From a design sense, being a little mysterious with a ‘more than meets the eye’ attitude is increasingly popular today than it was say a decade ago when the yuppies were all about shoving ones wealth (or appearance of wealth) in your face. Isson Eyewear is therefore less about logo embellishment and more about a unique look that is confident, bold, different but friendly and quirky at times. For me, it’s all about the individual, not the herd.
My latest project is about:
Well, it’s not yet quite a project, but it’s close…. We’re looking at building a house out of shipping containers! Don’t laugh, we had the light bulb moment and as we started to investigate, we found this!!
And since, we have found many other people doing awesome things with shipping containers. Building/welding it ourselves is what we aim to do and will surely deliver the satisfaction element. Buying it ready made as some people do loses its fun project appeal me thinks..
Is anyone else out there sharing the ‘modular simplicity and portability’ love?
My last purchase: Petrol…. But you probably didn’t mean that kind of purchase…. A pair of Prada loafers with big dirty gold tassles! KIDDIIIING!!
My current favourite mecho item: Loving the Flying Mouse T-shirts, national icons without the cheese
Pssstt…..One time I……… I’m not a story teller… but on occasion I do come across sights I just have to record… Speaking of which, just the other day I parked behind this bright spark:
Team mecho invites you to continue the conversation below with Catherine… Make it fun! Post comments with your own free personal Gravatar
If you enjoyed this feature, you may want to Sign-up to our mecho e-newsletter for our latest style updates, giveaways and other juicy stuff. Don’t forget to check out our current Competitions & Giveaways
Join us on:
NOTE: ARCHIVE ONLY from MAR-09. You may leave a comment but please note Catherine is no longer actively responding to any questions post 30 April-09.
Photo Gallery of Isson Sunglasses/Eyewear designed by Catherine Federici
Discover More Stylish features below:
LINK
MORE
GUEST BLOGGER
16 comments
16 Comments Add your own
1.
Mark | April 2nd, 2009 at 8:30 am
hi kid cat!
those shipping containers looks awesome! are there many council rules around?? where you can put them? how does all the plumbing and electricity works? id like to build a home office
cheers, mark
2.
catherine | April 2nd, 2009 at 12:13 pm
hey mark,
there’s a company in the US and NZ that you can buy them ready to go.. membrane roof top, plumbling and electrical installed, interior plasterboard walls (even undercoated with a coat of white paint, and chipboard floor. shipped and delivered with ease. if you do it yourself, you can buy new or second hand containers around $3-4K each.
Plumbing can be hidden(interior) or exterior… as easy as drilling a hole! depends on your design. The one I show above has many ‘pop out’ sections (slide in when transported) but more engineering is requiired the more walls are removed or cut, especially when stacking.
I love that you could one day move it to another location, or add more units down the track.
Council’s are def going to be tricky, but if the design meets the urban design guidelines it should be fine. From what I understand, all councils have different requirements.
3.
Mark | April 2nd, 2009 at 9:27 pm
thanks for this, will do some research! cheers, mark
4.
Mindy | April 2nd, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Hi Catherine, I love the Gidget sunglasses in the first pic! French Riviera feel! Gosh you must have so many shades yourself?! *jealous*
5.
catherine | April 3rd, 2009 at 9:50 am
Hey Mindy
Gidget is one of my faves… a deep cats-eye 50′s-esque glamour… not everyone’s cuppa, but then again I don’t design for the mass market.
haha, let’s just say I have a *few* pairs of sunnies..
6.
Laura | April 5th, 2009 at 10:16 am
aaah its such a beautiful sunday mornin and just learned that we have 1 extra hr to enjoy! also reading the profiles of you and the other bloggers – SUCH JOY!! i have a similar hobby like u where i take funniy pics of signs when im on travels. when i went to HK, they didnt have the yum cha trolleys (?) or maybe it was just the place i went too which looses a bit of its charm but i agree, HK is the bomb! great stopover if you crosses Asia for sure!
7.
catherine | April 6th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Hey Laura, Ahh HK.. You know you love a place when you fly in and it feels like home. Yeah some yum cha places have trolleys, but mostly not…. so it’s a bit of hit’n miss but half the fun trying new things. I do love a surprise!
Cheeses!! (sorry Yen)
as for taking pics, I want to take more of people on the street. I pass many faces that tell a thousand words. … still, how can someone not snap the Jizz Fashion store in the QVB mall??
8.
mecho team | April 6th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Cheeeses indeed, Catherine! Sorry, we did not put up your Jizz snap
You should set up a Twitter account and let us follow your Twitpics – instant mobile pics to be shared. That would be gold! People’s faces would be fun but probably harder to snap without getting a slap on your face.
By the way, have a chat to our other guest blogger, Street Fashion Photographer Hayley Hughes. She would have fun anectdotes of people on the streets plus Japanese Engrish signs
9.
Leah | April 6th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Hi Catherine,
Gotta get my hands on a pair of sunnies from your range! How many collections have you done so far? Love them!
Leah
10.
James | April 8th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Hi Catherine, did you know you were going to end up being an eyewear designer when you studided industrial design? How did you go from there to where you are now? All, I say is wow! J
11.
catherine | April 8th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Thanks Leah. I’m chuffed you’re digging my little sun-friends.
I am just in the process of producing my 8th collection (wow, just surprised myself).
12.
catherine | April 8th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Hiya James, It’s a bit of a story, better get that cuppa
Since age 14, I worked in optical boutiques through highschool and uni, so when I finally graduated, my head (and a bunch of sketch books) was full of eyewear designs, hinges, and various ‘pie in the sky’ concepts. stuff that still makes me wonder what drugs I was on! But I believe that allowing your creative head loose is mandatory when it comes to design (of anything).
Funnily, I loved the creative and analytical blend that Industrial Design offered. I loved the I.D course more for the head space it gave me rather than the obvious reason… to get a job as an Industrial Designer.
Ultimately, I am a consumer goods person at heart. I relentlessly analyse designs, materials, mechanisms, packaging etc.
Before starting Isson, I worked as a product tester, quality control manager, eyewear buyer and strangely, I managed a start-up business for the late Rene Rivkin. A truly amazing man.
All this came to a head and led me back to my real passion to design eyewear. I had more than just optical knowledge. Now i had quality control and Australian Standards testing experience, dealing with factories, importing goods, pricing calculations, retail sales and the biggy, how to run a business which Rene gave me the opportunity to learn.
Then one day, we bit the bullet. Off I went to a bunch of international trade fairs to find factories and the rest is history!!
13.
catherine | April 8th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Hey Team Mecho.. I confess, I set up a twiitter account a week ago… and deleted it today. I’m not digging the vibe of it all.
I’m intensely anti myspace for sooo many reasons.
I reluctantly joined facebook a couple of months ago and can only cope ’cause these people are actually my friends…. and there’s a FB “I Hate Ed Hardy” group I joined – a worthy cause indeed. xx
14.
mecho team | April 8th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Ha! Fair enough, not everyone’s cup of tea, we know… Personally, we are thinking of breaking up with Mr MySpace but separation is hard when there are still some sparks… Since you are on FB, we hope that you have Become a Fan of mecho though!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/mecho-the-style-black-book/15139985113
Wow you learned from the late Rene Rivkin! How did you manage to get into those circles? Keep up your good work!
15.
Cat | April 15th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Nice name! My parents gave me the same one
Our lives seem completely different though… you have done something out of yours! How does a typical day looks for you?
16.
catherine | April 20th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
hey Kid Cat
my typical day is pretty manic…. a mix of design work, sorting out production issues with our manufacturer, talking to magazine editors and stylists, working on our blog http://www.eyecandyoptics.com, selling to our international retailers in the, paying bills, buying USD currency and a million other things. I’m always in a constant state of flux. every day is different, very little is consistent or stays the same way for long so i’ve had to really embrace the ‘go with the flow’ thing..
Leave a Comment
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed