Silhouette International

Designer Gerhard Fuchs on Titan Minimal Art

On the occasion of the anniversary of Titan Minimal Art, the most significant creation made in eyewear in recent decades, the designer comments on inspiration, motivation, and reveals some details about himself.

Silhouette designer Gerhard Fuchs created Titan Minimal Art in 1999 – and to this day has not stopped endeavoring to make it perfect.

At five years of age, Gerhard Fuchs already knew that he wanted to be an inventor when he grew up. In the nineties, the Silhouette designer by passion, always on the lookout for new impressions, was commissioned to create a minimalist, much reduced pair of glasses. “I wanted to eliminate all superfluous elements without compromising in terms of design and wearing comfort”, Gerhard Fuchs says about the idea behind the most successful rimless eyewear in the world. So he eliminated the rim, the hinges, the screws, and most of the weight, paving the way to the best-selling frameless eyewear ever.

According to Gerhard Fuchs, the design work was completed in a relatively short time; the first prototypes were manufactured as early as 1995. The implementation was made possible by a new titanium alloy developed by the Research & Development department. “I forged the first spring zones of the prototypes myself with a hammer. I absolutely wanted the hingeless frame to be highly elastic and at the same time dimensionally stable. The spring zone is not only much more attractive than a hinge but also maintenance-free and more comfortable to wear", Gerhard Fuchs explains about the early days of Titan Minimal Art.

From those first steps to this day, the Silhouette engineers from prototype construction, R&D, and the engineering department were indispensable partners. “At Silhouette, each pair of glasses – including Titan Minimal Art – is created by a team. This is the secret behind our success,” says Arnold Schmied, CEO and co-owner of Silhouette.

The complete press release is in the Silhouette Mediabox and available for download.