Craft, cinema, and the Italian eye at Persol

"From the Fiat 500 to the Armani suit to the Superleggera chair, Italian design has long shown off an uncanny knack for balance: synthesizing beauty and utility, tradition and experimentation, efficiency and craft. For a smaller country with limited natural resources-and a fragmented sociopolitical history-the prestige of the Made in Italy mark is by some measures surprising. The secret lies somewhere in Italy's contradictions."

"Before the nation's unification, its states grew to become highly specialized industrially. They used it to their advantage-part of why Milan's today a global hub for haute couture, Naples for textiles, Venice for glassware, Brescia for metalwork, and Turin for automobiles and other machinery. Or consider, for example, its rather conservative, family-centric culture, against that famous phrase dolce far niente -the sweetness of doing nothing-which privileges pleasure, harmony, and peace over discipline, spiritual or otherwise."

"Persol is one of those quintessential Italian marks, manufacturing luxury frames for over a century with equal mind paid to its past, present, and its future. Touring the factory, you'd see robotic arms, conveyor belts, laser cutters, the like-and then a station over, artisan types filing acetate silhouettes by hand, inspecting hinges and drilling in the metal hardware that constitute the glasses' signatures, imparting durability, detail, and elegance by instinctual hand."

"Riccardo Pozzoli, the brand's creative director reflects: "What we carry forward from our early days is not just a style, but a way of thinking. Persol was born from a human approach to design, where function, comfort, and beauty were inseparable. In 2025, that same philosophy still guides us: Every frame is made in Italy, with artisanal precision and quiet obsession for detail. [We're using] new materials... but what hasn't chan"

Italian design blends beauty and utility, tradition and experimentation, efficiency and craft, producing a distinct Made in Italy prestige despite limited natural resources and fragmented history. Regional specialization developed before unification, producing hubs: Milan for haute couture, Naples for textiles, Venice for glassware, Brescia for metalwork, and Turin for automobiles and machinery. A cultural tension between conservative, family-centric values and the dolce far niente ethos privileges pleasure alongside craftsmanship. Persol exemplifies these traits, manufacturing luxury eyewear for over a century while combining robotic production and artisanal hand-finishing to ensure durability, detail, and elegance. The brand maintains a human-centered design philosophy with frames made in Italy.

Read at Documentjournal