Sometimes the best ideas start in your hands

Most eyewear starts as a sketch. But when Prodesign designer Nicoline Jensen wants to explore softer, more organic forms, she sometimes takes a different route. Instead of heading straight from sketch book to computer, she starts shaping the idea by hand in clay.

Designing organic shapes digitally can be surprisingly restrictive. While software offers precision, it also demands decisions from the very beginning. Clay allows for a more intuitive process, which is why she sometimes let the material guide the design:

"In a digital program, you have to make choices all the time. You're more locked into a certain direction, whereas clay allows the form language to evolve while you're working with it. You might accidentally press a little too hard somewhere, and suddenly you've created something you never planned, but actually see potential in. Sometimes the material takes the design in a direction you wouldn't have discovered otherwise."

Beyond the practical benefits, Nicoline believes there is value in simply working with physical materials.

"There's something very tactile about it. When you're used to working with materials like acetate, steel or titanium, you're dealing with materials that already have their own limitations. Clay is different because it's soft and formable. In many ways, the material itself helps define the design."

Why not just draw it?

Although clay allows Nicoline to experiment freely, that freedom also comes with a trade-off. Unlike a digital file, a clay model can't simply be copied, versioned or rolled back.

"The downside is that there's no undo button. In a digital program, you can try something out, and then always go back if you change your mind. With clay, you eventually have to stop and decide that it's finished. That's a skill in itself."

Almost every project still begins on paper, as sketching is often the fastest way to capture an idea before it disappears. But a sketch only tells part of the story:

"I always start by drawing. The challenge is that a sketch is two-dimensional. As soon as you start looking at the frame from above, from the side or in perspective, you need to understand how all the shapes connect in three dimensions. That's why I sometimes build a physical model. It’s often a certain detail that I want to try out or see how connects to the rest.”

One recent example of this approach is FLOAT, an upcoming concept scheduled for launch in 2027:

"I wanted the acetate to feel organic and soft. The challenge was figuring out how that sense of movement could run through the entire frame rather than live in just one detail. That's generally how we work. We're not designing a front, a temple and a hinge separately. We create a complete concept, where everything supports the same idea and where the name connects back to the story behind the design."

Bringing ideas into the real world

The clay model becomes a bridge between concept and production, helping both the design team and manufacturing partners understand the intended shapes and proportions.

But the Prodesign design team also uses 3D-printed prototypes to test proportions, colour combinations and fit before moving into production.

Because designing a frame on a screen and holding it in your hand are two very different experiences.

"Eyewear is such a small object. Something can look great on a computer, but when you see it at full scale or put it on a face, it's a completely different experience. That's why physical prototypes are so important. They help us understand whether the idea actually works in the real world."

These physical stages of the design process happen long before the final frame reaches opticians' shelves. But they remain crucial to transferring creativity into something that people will eventually wear.