Stuart Laing preparing for the Blur eyewear store opening at Mt Maunganui. Photo/George Novak
Optometrist Stuart Laing has a drill in hand and a bag full of screws. He is not about to whip up a pair of glasses, but a whole shop.
His unlikely helpers are a sculptor and graphic designer Paul Mossong. Where are the builders? The architects?
"It is us three," laughs Laing, pointing to Tauranga sculptor Nic Clegg and Mossell.
The trio are fitting out a new store for Blur Eyecare, to open in Mount Maunganui this month, which Laing says will raise the profile of the company in the region.
"It was always a plan after two years in Tauranga we would come to the Mount. They are different subsets of populations. We remain committed to the CBD, and I believe we are on the precipice of something big in Tauranga."
Laing's aim is for the two stores to become central North Island destinations for eyewear.
"We are a unique proposition in the market in New Zealand as we offer products and styles you cannot get elsewhere.
"We pick brand for materials, design, history behind brand and, of course, they must be functional, but they must have a unique element. So many styles are unique to the Bay and often we are the sole distributors in the country."
Laing says there is an increase in demand for high-quality eyewear.
"People are coming to terms with the fact they need to spend a bit more on their eyewear because it is the way you see the world, and if you are going to be wearing it for the next couple of years, you need to be seeing it properly," he says.
The hands-on approach that Laing is showing in fitting out the store himself reflects the boutique feel of the company.
"We have happy clients come back to us. We take time to get to know people. We are all about being local. You cannot emulate this boutique feel and high-quality optics in a chain store."
Sculptor Clegg is one of those clients who became a friend, and together with Mossell, the three have been collaborating on the new store's design. Although the downtown store has an industrial feel, the Mount store is more organic, using stone wood and metal as the design foundations.
"Stuart came to me telling me 'I want trees'. So I thought right we have to allude to trees. That was our starting point."
Clegg welded the tree-like structures in his workshop. "When you walk in you will get a sense that it is some sort of forest. The sculpture alludes to the trunk, and from the trunk's branches will hang rimu boxes with glass shelving. The fruit from the tree if you like, and in these boxes you will see glasses. So you can meander round the store looking at the glasses."
Laing says he likes to move away from the stereotype of optometry being boring, or that glasses have a stigma about it.
We want to make the whole process personal, involved, and fun.
The trees lead to a "cage" made of cortene steel, which Clegg says is a popular medium in architecture and sculpture. Laing and wife Haidee Mannix, a fellow optometrist, will see clients in the "cage". "We call it the engine room. It's a weathering steel which will rust, and we have accelerated the rusting - to give a membrane effect reflective of lichen and moss."
On the walls will be steel-framed glass-fronted museum-style cabinets that Clegg has made "like a butterfly display, which will seem randomly placed but not random. They will be lit from behind like an old-fashioned X-ray box in doctors' surgeries, and these will also display glasses. A feature piece in the store is an old optometry chair which Clegg had stripped back to bare metal and reupholstered in weathered leather."
Laing and Mannix have owned the downtown store for more than two years, taking it over from Devon, who started it in 2006 and who still is a key part of the business.
"We all really do love our job. We give an honest accurate assessment of eye health. The style element is another part. The frames are important as they are the way people see you. You can spend $1000 on shoes but the first thing people see is your face, and that is what they take away."
Laing says the team pride themselves in helping find frames that suit.
"We do encourage people to push the boat out, to move away from the stock-standard frames. I might start with something that will scare you but then will reel it back in, tailor it and find a direction for you that works."
"We encourage people to go away, and it can quickly normalise, they understand how we are fitting the face. We go on face proportions and go on personality. You spend the time with people - get to know them a bit. It is conversational, breaking down barriers so we spend up to an hour in a room, so they feel like they are being themselves."
The design of the new Mount store very much reflects the dual core business, with the high-tech uncompromising testing room out the back and a creative think-tank out the front.
"Our clients must feel supremely confident with the clinical assessment, but they must also feel comfortable and relaxed when choosing their new look that will define them for the next year or more."
It is a little bit art and a little bit science, choosing the right frames that complement your features and your face will have a timeless quality about it, says Laing. He says the store will be filled with "beautiful and eclectic eyewear".
"We do not chase fads since your frame will outlast these. Eyewear designers design eyewear. Not clothes. Not perfume. Not cars. Not handbags or shoes. Many of our eyewear brands will be unknown to those who do not wear spectacles. The core of what we do includes the likes of Anne et Valentin; Theo; Mykita; Michel Henau and Lindberg. More recently, smaller volume innovative companies Vinylize (frames made from Vinyl records in Hungary) and Fritz (a German boat-builder, now living just out of Maroochydore) have approached us to consider stocking their products. There are no labels on our eyewear. Boutique eyewear brands must stand on the merits of their design and quality materials. Eyewear should not display brand labels. This is simply tribal recognition at a vulgar level."
Strong words reflect an intense passion for what he does. A man who grew up wanting to study either the eye or the brain because he found them the most fascinating parts of the body, has also a uniquely creative approach to framing the face to allow self-expression and individuality.
Time to celebrate
Blur Eyecare is having an opening party at its new premises on the cruise deck on Maunganui Rd on August 13, 5pm. There will be heaters, live music, food and drink. Blur will give away a pair of sunglasses on the night. RSVP to info@blureyecare.co.nz.
This year's indulge Bay Model 2015 is in association with Blur Eyecare.
Owners Stuart Laing and Haidee Mannix say the event aligns closely with Blur's own philosophy. "We believe that every individual should be able to confidently be themselves and express a little piece of themselves in the way they look and see the world. indulge Bay Model from our point of view is about the celebration of being yourself and having the confidence to tread your own path."
Laing says the team is looking forward to meeting a diverse group of ladies of all ages and personalities in the competition.
How do you take part?
STEP 1 Register your interest by emailing events@bayofplentytimes.co.nz
STEP 2 Visit 405 Cameron Rd from 11am-3pm on August 8 or9to register your entry.