I really enjoy nice things. Despite that I have often shared my experiences of living a rather minimalistic lifestyle throughout previous posts, the objects I do like to surround myself tend to exhibit a strong sense of value either through monetary or symbolic means. One such object that I highly value is my pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses that I have recently acquired about one year ago. When pondering on what my focus for this week’s blog post should be, I felt that diving into the physical nature, history and functionality of my sunglasses would offer an interesting and educational perspective that serves as a culmination to what we have learned so far during our honors seminar.

For starters, I want to give to detailed description of what makes up my pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses. In terms of physical dimensions, the glasses are roughly 5 and a half inches long, 5 inches wide and are about 1 and a half inches in height. Moreover, the frame of the glasses has a nice black matte finish which gives the object a smooth feeling while also preventing fingerprints from emerging across its frame. On both sides of the frame, the Ray-Ban logo extrudes from the corners to help maintain the objects identity in regards to its brand and affiliation. I personally like the Ray-Ban logo on the glasses because I feel that it helps signify its quality as an object. Since I don’t tend to own too many objects, I like to feel reassured that the objects I do own have a purpose and possess quality in both design and worth. As a result, this logo helps to assure that this object is of excellent condition compared to other glasses on the market.

Continuing with the physical attributes of my Ray-Ban sunglasses, the inner corners of the glasses have a stainless-steel joint that allows the frame to pivot in order to open and close. Although the frame is a very important aspect of any pair of glasses, it is undeniable the most important portion of this object is centered around its lenses. For this object, despite of having a myriad of diverse lenses to choose from, I ultimately ended up with a lens with a metallic finish. Since standard black lenses were not available for the frame I had chosen, I ended up choosing these silver mirror lenses instead. Although I was a little skeptical of them at first, I eventually became very fond of them as they would soon become my everyday sunglasses.

Before diving into the history of obtaining my object, I would like to touch on one critical aspect of these sunglasses that I have not mentioned yet – they’re prescription. I consider myself to be a generally healthy person but one area that I’m definitely lacking in is my personal vision; while I don’t have terribly bad vision, I don’t have the best vision either. Since I am near sided (meaning I can see clearer up close), and the fact that I don’t enjoy wearing normal glasses, I believed that obtaining a pair of prescription sunglasses would be a suitable compromise. I bring up this point because I feel as if this object perfectly brings up the debate of fashion vs function. I’m often surprised to how many people forget that sunglasses can be prescription and not just a mere accessory. One of the reasons I am drawn to this object is that it serves two purposes, it is a fashionable accessory while also allowing me to see much clearer. As a result, the pragmatic nature of this object is what led me to purchase it in the first place nearly one year ago.

As I stated before, I obtained these sunglasses last June in Danbury, Connecticut at a local retailer called LensCrafters. Ray-Ban, being originally owned by Bausch & Lomb, were eventually sold to the Italian eyewear giant, Luxottica, in 1999. Moreover, since my glasses are made to order based on my prescription and have the writing “Made in Italy” on its frame, I tried to look further to see where exactly they were manufactured. Unfortunately, I was not able to locate any resources online that pinpoint the exact location in Italy where these glasses were made. However, according to Luxottica’s website, the company’s manufacturing footprint includes six facilities located in Italy, the center of Luxottica’s luxury eyewear production, with five of their most prominent factories being located in Northeastern Italy, where most of the country’s eyewear industry is based, and one near Turin.

Although it is a shame that I wasn’t able to find to exact location of where my Ray-Ban sunglasses were manufactured, I’m sure they were produced with passion and exquisite Italian craftsmanship. With such a strong attention to detail, a pragmatic and fashionable purpose and a rich Italian history, there’s no surprise to why this object continues to be one of my favorite possessions. Perhaps one day I’ll have the opportunity to dig even deeper into the history and manufacturing process of these glasses. But for now, I look forward to continue wearing them as I will be able to appreciate and acknowledge this object’s significance, functionality and history.