Tag Archive for 'minneapolis'

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World Sight Day | Seva Foundation

October 13th is World Sight Day!

We’re celebrating by helping Seva Foundation get the word out about their Healthy Eyes, Healthy Lives Campaign, that aims to accelerate the ability of Seva’s partner communities to provide for their own eye care. Through donations that the Seva Foundation receives, they grow the capacity of their Sight and Native American Community Health Programs that provide eye healthcare training opportunities, medical supplies and equipment. They also will continue their work in Tibet, Nepal, Cambobia and other countries to provide remote eye clinics.

Last year, Specs Optical sponsored a full day of mobile eye camp services; and we are happy to say that many other donors did too! We received a letter from Seva Foundation stating that they were able to perform “25% more sight restoring surgeries in Tibet” and that “78% more school children in Nepal received free eye exams and follow up care.”

We hope that you will consider celebrating World Sight Day by donating to Seva Foundation’s eyesight healthcare work with Native American communities here at home and others throughout the world.

To learn more or make a donation, visit the SEVA FOUNDATION website.

Give the Gift of Sight

SEVA FOUNDATION | GIVE THE GIFT OF SIGHT

SPECS OPTICAL is happy to spread the word about a remarkable non-profit that provides eye care services to remote areas of Tibet, Nepal, Cambodia, Guatemala and other parts of the world. SEVA FOUNDATION accepts donations of all levels to:

  • Sponsor a cataract operation and restore sight to a blind person in Tibet, Nepal, Cambodia, India, Bangladesh or Guatemala.
  • Help a woman living in a poor rural area get the eye care services she needs. From outreach and education to transportation arrangements, donations ensure that she avoids low vision and blindness.
  • Train local doctors and rural health care workers to deliver desperately needed eye care services to the people of Tibet, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia, Guatemala, Egypt and throughout Eastern Africa.
  • Provide a child with specialized pediatric surgery. Now able to attend school, eventually work, and care for their own family, a child’s life is changed forever.
  • Support the screening and provision of eyeglasses to twenty people in remote regions. Glasses help children to read and stay in school and elders to maintain their independence.
  • Provide training, tools and specialized equipment. A trained eye care team will be able to prevent blindness and restore sight to thousands of people in underserved communities.
  • Restore sight to at least 30 blind people in remote regions of Nepal, Tibet, Cambodia and Guatemala.
  • Support a 10-day eye camp and provide over 1,000 eye examinations and 300 sight-restoring surgeries in remote communities where there is no other access to eye care.

Seva Foundation’s One-Day Eye Camp

SEVA FOUNDATION | Eye Care Services

SPECS OPTICAl is sponsoring via SEVA FOUNDATION a full day of mobile eye camp services in a remote region of Tibet, Nepal, Cambodia or Guatemala, restoring sight to as many as 30 blind people. Mobile eye camps are an innovative way to deliver quality eye care to remote areas where there are no hospitals.

To learn more about how you or your organization can GIVE THE GIFT OF SIGHT, visit SEVA’s website.

About Seva Foundation

SEVA FOUNDATION | DONATE EYE CARE FOR REMOTE AREAS

Seva Foundation is most widely known for its innovative eye care programs in Asia and Africa, which have helped nearly three million blind people to see again through affordable cataract surgeries. In Guatemala and Mexico, Seva works with indigenous communities to provide the tools and training needed to sustain clean water systems, health care, and educational opportunities. Here in the U.S., Seva partners with Native American communities that are committed to building healthy communities, sustaining cultural values, and protecting the environment.

RetroSpecs Museum Pieces – August 16th, 2011

 

RetroSpecs & Co. represents  and celebrates the “Golden Age” of eyewear manufacturing. Their collection of “real deal” vintage eyewear has been lovingly restored with precision and meticulously archived. They are categorized into one of five archives: Early Modern, Vintage, Specialty, Buffalo Horn Inlay, and MUSEUM. RetroSpecs pieces from each of these categories have been available at Specs Optical for many years, except MUSEUM….until now!

What does it mean for a piece to be classified as “Museum”? It means there are five or fewer known to exist worldwide. These extremely special and rare frames are only made available for viewing or for purchase on special occasions. One happens to be coming up.

Adam Cowfer of RetroSpecs & Co. will be at SPECS OPTICAL on Tuesday, August 16th 2011, from 11am – 7pm. He will be showing 20 to 30 of these museum caliber pieces, as well as 15 to 20 rares acetates (plastic frames) circa 1950-60s, previously unseen at Specs Optical.

 

New Rapp is in @ Specs Optical

In 1983, Mel Rapp of Toronto, Canada began creating his unique vision of eyewear. His collection, known as rapp, has evolved quite a bit since then, but he has kept intact the concept of “old-fashioned work ethics and modern technology.” While in New York this year at the Vision Expo, we learned that Mel and his team of 5 hand-craft (truly handmade, not just a claim), assemble, and finish each piece. They complete maybe ten pieces per day. This is unheard of in the industry. The result, however, is art. These are very limited shape and color combinations, some of which we only ever see once. Truly unique! Here are some of the new pieces that just arrived. Click on any of them for full view.

 

rapp Jason

rapp Perri

rapp Gwen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…and there are many more to see and try on. Stop by Specs Optical before they are all gone!

 

 

 

 

 

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Special Story about LaLoops at Specs Optical

Often when we are selecting the latest new frames and accessories to show in our shop, it is not only the obvious quality and beauty of the pieces, but the stories of their origin, conception, and inspiration, that ultimately convinces us that they are THE ONES. On our latest trip to the New York Vision Expo, Elizabeth Faraut, creator of LaLoop, was particularly excited to tell us about the her newest pieces.

About LaLoop #578BL, in her words: “I was reading and was moved by a Nicholas Kristof piece in the New York Times. He writes about these women in Uganda who make these beautiful beads out of recycled paper. These impoverished village women often times live in huts and have many kids to take care of while their husbands are taken away to fight in civil wars that are going on. This non-profit organization called Bead For Life takes these beads and markets them, giving these impoverished Ugandan women not only a source of income, but also a job (which is not so easy to find in their situations.) I designed the LaLoop #578BL necklace using these beads married with smooth black onyx.”

About LaLoop #578T and #578J, in her words: “I met this supplier at a bead show a few months ago. He was from Afghanistan. A miner from Afghanistan. He had come to this bead show in Southern California with boxes of untreated stones. He had mined them himself. I took a look at his calloused hands and knew that he had mined them himself. I love the untreated, natural element of the turquoise and jade. I had never seen this before and wondered why there is so much gloss applied over natural stones in the marketplace.”

Anne et Valentin Style Expert @ Specs Optical

SAVE THE DATE :

Wednesday February 23rd, 2011

12 Noon – 7pm


Gabriel Gestin, expert on all things Anne et Valentin, will be visiting Specs Optical to see you! Come meet him and let him show you all the gorgeous, brilliantly-colored eyewear that Anne et Valentin has to offer.

An opportunity to let a beautiful Frenchman enhance your specs life!

Meet Gabriel from 12 Noon – 7 PM.

As always, food and beverages will be provided.

The Magic of ic! berlin design-Demo video

This is a pretty amazing video from ic! berlin that demonstrates just how incredibly flexible and durable their frames really are. Not that we recommend you try any of this with your own ic! berlins, but it’s good to know they are capable!

Specs Optical New Years Eve 2010

Join all of us at Specs Optical on New Years Eve!

Friday Dec.31st 10am-5ish

Come see us on December 31st, 2010 to help us ring in the new year. We will be poppin’ champagne and servin’ up treats and coffee drinks. And, as long as you’re in, feel free to let one of us show you some of our latest and greatest new pieces from the eyewear collections you have come love as much as we do.

It will surely be hoppin’ at Specs Optical, as many are trying to use up the last of their flex spending accounts (HSA) before the year’s end….are you one of them?


Even if you are currently not in need of new specs (never happens as far as we’re concerned!), drop by and grab a flute of champagne, a coffee, and some treats and toast to the New Year with us. We will see you soon! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

Specs Optical 2010 Gift Certificates

Even though it’s been asked many times, many ways…how does Santa make it all around the world to all the children (and grown-up children) in the span of one special night? Well, there is only one logical, science-based answer to that…..MAGIC! (oooooh) Quite frankly, though, it really is not our problem, it’s his. So, let’s focus back on our loved ones here in a non-fantasy land called the real world.

During the holiday season, some of us give gifts of pure decadence, some of practicality, some from the heart, and others walk into the local Super America, grab a random item off a shelf and toss it in a somewhat festively-decorated box (thanx again for those gas station gloves former coworker). But many still choose the route of the gift card or, now considered to be from the old-timey days, the gift certificate. What? Paper, not plastic?

Sure thing. Here at Specs Optical, we still offer up hand written gift certificates in any denomination in a beautifully designed card and envelop.  They are actually available year-round, but tis the season, right? A gift certificate is practical, a little decadent, and most importantly…not from a gas station, I mean….from the heart! Show a friend or family member that you care about the health of their eyes as well as their fashion sense with a gift certificate from Specs Optical. And, FYI, they never expire, so there’s no pressure to use it or lose it, like your flex spending dollars…HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all!

Halloween – Complete Your Costume

It is inevitable that every year….oh, about a day or two before Halloween, we start getting panicked clients calling or stopping in, trying to find just the right pair of specs to complete their Halloween costume. So, here are a couple of early suggestions for pieces that might just do the trick:

Above left: The Dita Flight-S. A fun flashy aviator sunglass to complete your Top Gun pilot get-up (always an easy standby costume choice.) Above right: The Rapp Rosalind. A dramatic sculpted cat eye to perfect your naughty secretary or 60′s diner waitress outfit. It is currently available in 8 colors!

Below: RetroSpecs R#3305 by American Optical. This is a real deal vintage original, not reproduction. Ideal for all those Mad Men enthusiasts. Or, pair them with a lab coat (perhaps blood-stained) for a mad scientist look.

….and there are countless other possibilities. Let us know if there is a specific look you are working on. Otherwise, come see us soon, if not just for a Halloween treat. You may even catch one or more of us in costume. Have a happy and safe Halloween!