INTERVIEW: PRIVATE EYES & TRACKERS
Tommy O’Gara’s personality is a strong reflection of the product he produces, his glasses reveal years of experience, refinement and craft. Here at TNO his talent hasn’t gone amiss, we sat down with the man behind the lenses to talk about his new store. In a time where the physical world is slowly becoming pixelated, Tommy is moving against the grain creating a new organic experience for the consumer…
Lets start with the timing, why did you want to open your first flagship this year?
I didn’t really…I wanted to open last year but this is just how things played out and often play out. We waited for 1 year for this space and had missed another in this building the previous year. After CE Opened in From1st I had several conversations with Toby Feltwell and knew that this was the spot for our space.
Can you talk about the concept of the retail space and how it represents all the Native Sons, Julius Tart, Shady Characters and Sauvage?
Yes this is: OPTICS GALLERY / STUDIO / WORKSHOP : meaning we hold full line ups, have a design space in the back and do custom work for our clients. We can even Hotstamp / Initial frames in addition to custom lens work. The brands are on the floor with limited and pre-releases shown here first…We can experiment with colour combinations and get feedback from both first time customers as well as long time clients of the brands.
Whats behind the name Private Eyes & Trackers?
I wanted the name to show that we are always searching for the next new thing with what we do…from design to materials to ways to show the world what we do. We always work very organically and any collaborations happen very naturally…Whether with a brand / designer or a store client. The icon was designed for us by Sk8ting a few years back and fits perfectly with the name…The All Seeing Eye on the Pyramid with a monocle.
What is your vision for the store from this point on?
We can’t really have gatherings now but we intend to show our works here and works with our brothers and sisters as much as possible. The space is comfortable to spend time in…I would love to have small exhibitions of photographers, drink and music etc. but we will have to see. Right now we are developing new lines within our lines and we look forward to show casing these. It takes time to find just the right crew to operate within any brand space so we are still growing in that respect.
Can you talk a bit about your clientele, what kind of people are coming through the doors and what type of people you are trying to get through the doors?
Right away we had young Tokyo and visitors from overseas but the visitors slowed of course. Young guys were rolling by buying new frames and showing us their collections.. we very naturally started refurbishing their frames with clean ups / tune ups and new lenses. We hope they keep bringing them in. There are quite a few professional fashion people, couples, young people of all walks of life and a few older people coming by as well. We spend time getting to know them and their likes as much as possible. We hope to get the International Travellers when they can get back to Tokyo. It is hard to find anything near the line up of our brands globally outside of the BRAND SPACE.
2020 has been a challenging year for all, how have you been able to cope with the pandemic and be able to extend your brand name?
It is strange but we have gotten stronger through Instagram intro sales. Our web sales site is named after the store so the link is there. We added more customer Service people in the Kamakura Logistics and this has been key. We have expanded the brands into new recovering territories and are experiencing some growth. The nature of our expansion is again very organic. We started some distribution to Jakarta / Dubai and soon Vietnam as well as growing in Europe and strengthening our positions in Korea and Taiwan. Prior to Covid, I was traveling every month…I’m now on FACETIME everyday. This is our new world. It flows differently now.
Can you please talk in a bit of depth about the brands you design and manufacture, how does each label sit alongside each other. Native Sons, Julius Tart, Shady Characters and Sauvage each have there own distinctive characteristics can you please talk about each line and the stand out elements?
With Native Sons, we have divided it into the Engineering Collection, Butcher Collection and CRAFTLINE. Engineering has the Beauty Marks on front and is medium weight Carving. Butcher is the Heavy Meat Carving with Beauty Marks on the side as when we started the Engineering Collection almost nobody was using Beauty Marks on frames and now a lot of people are.. I came up with the CRAFTLINE. Beautifully carved modern shapes with “Feather Patterned” Core Wires, nosepads and riveted connections. These are Pure Minimalism. The general vibe is a “Retro-Modern Edge”. But within the brand there is a definite division between the lines. Julius Tart is a Lux Heritage Brand re created with much better materials but in the same configurations from the 1950’s-1980’s There is a lot of history and this brand is treated with respect as an optical line with various sizes and configurations. Historically Shady Character was created by a couple, who were the first to incorporate Vintage Frames into Fashion of the 1970’s and Julius Tart stepped up to help Steven and Linda create frames from his collections with their own colour ways and new “Bowtie” Beauty marks…. We have re-launched this brand and you will see much more introduced in SS 21. SAUVAGE is a very FASHION line that I designed in Paris and create here.. the concept id Paris / Tokyo and the 400 years of cultural exchange.. we use a very French / Japanese look and style that is unique to the line. Both tradition acetate styles and Combination styles are joined with edgy high tech Titanium styles. See: Stratosphere and Pilote. Launching this line was a 2 year effort that happened to coincide with Covid/ Corona out-break, but we are doing well. People love this and need this now. So you can see all brands are very unique and do not look similar nor do they clash.
Native Sons is perhaps the most established collection from them all, what is the secret to maintain such a high standard of quality and also be able to progress and evolve with Native Sons?
With all Design work, I set up themes and stories : then do the research for the imagery to create new looks based on the vibe I find excluding pre-existing Eyewear. Our team works direct with our own Engineering and our factory to create protos and new techniques for carving and finishing the frames. We also only use Takiron Cellulose Based Acetates made from Cotton Oil. These are harder, deeper and richer; accepting colors cleanly. The hardness is the key to the polish, along with our Spiral Gara system of tumbling. All of our parts are custom made from original press / trim molds and we use only high grade titanium. Different plating companies are utilized for different looks and finishes. So in a nut shell we control all aspects from design to finished product…Then we show like-minded associates to keep growing the brand and work together collaborating some with our friends in a few fashion brands.
Going forward, what do you want to achieve with both the eyewear and the retail space? How do you want to build?
Like the brands, we build slow and steady. The future holds store in stores, Pop Up, VIP shows and a certain amount of small spaces done over the world. We have created the FRAME BODEGA with Siwilai in Bangkok and may do more of these in other locations. The brands we grow like I said, slow and steady.. please remember growth also means controlling mfg capacities. This is no easy thing. We have done well with this, especially gaining capacity during covid. We may look at running a night shift in our factory down the road a bit. We have some special projects in the works for Native Sons that could be very interesting. But again, step by step. SAUVAGE though new will have an exciting new line for SS21. Something, nobody is tackling today. We build in the brands and branch out Globally in increments… to new territories with new people, who love what we do.
