Glimpse opticians suite of custom furniture designed and made by the Dual Works — Photography by Crumb

We have thoroughly enjoyed working with the team at Glimpse on the creation of a suite of custom furniture for their incredible eyewear store in the beautiful Great Western Arcade, Birmingham.

Glimpse is a vibrant independent optician that offers a personalised service and showcases avant -garde design-led frames. We were over the moon when they asked us to work with them as we enjoy supporting Birmingham-based independents and we love the interior design of their store. It was also been great to try out many of the amazing frames!

We were challenged to create playful furniture that complemented the existing interior as well as adding something new and spectacular. We focused on linear elements seen within their branding, along with microscopic details observed in the intricacies of the various frame design.

These details were translated as brightly coloured dots and we explored the idea of arcs, curves and semi-circles as a way to enhance the surroundings. This arc design cleverly enables the furniture to be versatile and adaptable. Offering various combinations which provide a positive, welcoming environment and can be used for both display and dispensing.

Matt Rose, Co-founder of Glimpse shares “We have known Dual Works for several years now they are some of the warmest and most friendly people you could wish to meet. So when it came time to add some new furniture to our Store in the Great Western Arcade, we didn't have to think about who would do this project it was always going to be Dual Works.
They took our brief and made sense of it! They spent time making sure what would work in our space, and be practical for our needs. Also, we really like that they sourced great material from UK suppliers, this was all delivered on time and on the budget.
We wouldn't hesitate to recommend Dual Works and use them for future projects.”

Materials were selected for their visual qualities and we specially commissioned Glasgow-based Mirrl to make the table tops in a custom colourway.

“Mirrl is made to order in small batches using a technique inspired by Japanese lacquerware from the island of Hokkaido. It has a distinctive organic pattern and is available in numerous colourways. Mirrl is a solid surface material on a Birch plywood substrate. It is highly resilient, long-lasting, waterproof, and food safe.” www.mirrl.com

We also included a light grey-toned Valchromat, Birch Plywood, Formica, with a powder-coated steel framework, and laser-cut Perspex. Local companies A. Edmonds and Co Ltd and Slice Laser Studio helped us to bring this commission to life.

We knew this was going to be a fun and joyous project and that we would create something wonderful together.