News

That ADIDAS have one of the best selection of performance sports sunglasses on the market today is no secret. Top athletes like All Black Dan Carter, MTB Downhiller Sam Blenkinsop and Golfer Natalie Gulbis can be seen wearing their ADIDAS eyewear wherever you see them. But not only top performance athletes enjoy the incredible benefits behind the ADIDAS eyewear technology. They are built to be durable, fit most comfortably, protect the wearer from harmful light and wind, and even improve visual comfort in extreme light conditions. ... read more

Last night, while cruising the net I came across a really neat gadget  for DIY sight tests. The gadget hasn’t got a name yet, nor is it avalable for purchase yet. So what exactly is this little beauty all about? In essence it is a small and very simple plastic attachment for your mobile phone, with which, provided you have the appropriate software, you could perform a simple sight test to estimate your visual acuity and the resulting estimated refractive error of your eye. The good news is that the gadget costs less than US$2 and could be usefull in remote parts of underdeveloped countries where sophisticated equipment for comprehensive eye examinations is just not available. The bad news is, that it is not a substitute for the traditional compehensive eye examination since it is designed to do only one small and simple task – estimating a refractive error based on the user’s information input. Eye conditions other than myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and presbyopia cannot be detected. ... read more

The importance of regular eye tests was demonstrated during the world cup soccer match between England and Germany 2010 this morning .If you are only remotely interested in the sport of soccer, you will probably have spent quite a few hours over the past few weeks watching games life on TV. And when you live in this part of the world, this means that you would probably have done this at times when you really should have been in bed sleeping. After 2 weeks this nocturnal habbit can actually start to play tricks on your mind and on your visual acuity. Maybe it is time to come and let us have a look if your vision is still ok. If, for example, you saw last night’s game between Germany and England and the replay of Frank Lampard’s kick looked something like the picture on the left, then you are well overdue to have an eye test. Look, we’d be happy to spend some time with you to determine what exactly causes your slightly distorted outlook, so please don’t hesitate, ring us and make an appointment for an eye test. Ah, and yes, our optometrist is British and therefore definetly impartial. (The image above was uploaded by an unknown person and we have bluntly used it here to make our point of the importance of having regular eye tests). If your name happens to be Jorge Larrionda or Mauricio Espinosa, we’ll do that eye test even for free! ... read more

Although we are fortunate enough to live in the sunniest part of New Zealand, the beginning of winter and the past 3 weeks in particular have been somewhat depressing. When we received our newest JFRey and BOZ frames today, they certainly brightened up what was promising to be another dull and rainy winter day. As always, JFRey is never scared of using colour on his frame designs. But not only that, he has a real talent for combining colours and design into something really unique and special. Sometimes we are ask “….yes they are great, but will they date?”. Well to be perfectly honest, fashion trends date. The trendier, the faster. These frames however do not follow any trend. They are so unique, they have a life of their own. They are classics and as with all design classics, they will not date. They will always be classics. Here are just a couple of the new frames we have in stock for you now. Come in to see the others. ... read more

Just a quick update on our ever growing Lindberg collection. We received another wonderful ladies model (1125, colAC39). It oozes class! The shape is very feminine with soft lines and simplistic style.The Acetanium is made from a 3-ply acetate material, which works really well. The front features a highly polished black, with a very fine ebony and mother of pearl layer behind. The sides are made from titanium and their colour (a matt finished light grey) complement the dark coloured front perfectly. Like all Lindberg Acetanium frames, they feature adjustable nose pads and a screwless hinge. Heavy? Not at all. Although I didn’t wheigh them, they can’t be more than about 10 grams. ... read more

After having been away from the practice for the last few weeks, it is nice to be back in Motueka. Having said that, I am not sure if I like the current weather so much. You see I spent the last 2 weeks in a coutry where the average temperature was around 30 degrees. Coming back to Motueka and arriving here in the shop at 7 degrees and looking very grey and miserable …… it certainly takes a little bit of getting used to. On the bright side, we received some really nice and colourful glasses from Ronit Furst while I was away. Ronit is an Israeli artist and has been making hand painted eyewear for a number of years now. You don’t see them very often, and if so, it is usually only in a few of the very top end optical shops in New York, Paris, Sydney and the like. ... read more

I know I have been neglecting our blog lately and have not been able to share with you what’s going on at Claudia K as much as I would have liked. The truth is, I am currently away from the practice and spending some time with the Fred Hollows Foundation and Fonaroman Timor Leste in Dili. I feel very privileged to be here today, because today was a very (and I mean VERY) big day for the team: the celebration of the inauguration of the temporary operating theatre and eye clinic in a converted container donated by the New Zealand Armed Services. ... read more

This is not a joke, “Ad Specs – The Self Adjustable Spectacles” are being marketed for developing countries by the Centre for Vision in the Developing World and Global Vision 2020. So what is so special about these glasses? They allow the user to correct their own vision. How? ... read more

This will be my third trip to Timor Leste. I am currently sitting here at Sydney Airport waiting for my flight to Darwin and then on to Dili. It’s always a long trip, almost as long as going halfway around the world. I started this morning on a 7.00am flight from Nelson to Auckland where I had the pleasure of meeting the Fred Hollows New Zealand team. Planned arrival in Dili is 7.15am tomorrow morning.
The Fred Hollows Foundation has been very active in East Timor for the past 5 years or so and have been instrumental in helping the local NGO FoNaroman Timor Leste (Giving Sight Timor Leste) in providing basic eyecare to the people of Timor. Can’t wait to meet the team again and to spend the next 2 weeks with the optical team in Dili. ... read more

Way back in the late 80’s and the early 90’s Australian Jonathan Sceats frames were amongst the hottest frames one could own. They were great quality, made from wonderful acetates and simply refreshing to wear! Well, Jono is back! This time with a cool range marketed under his own name.  I thought I’d show a few frames from his latest collection here. BTW, the frames featured are now available in the shop. ... read more