Eyewear is uniquely intimate. A pair of glasses is not simply an accessory, they literally become an extension of your face and part of your identity and how you move through the world and how the world, in turn, sees you.
Few people understand that relationship better than Parisian designer Jérèmy Miklitarian, founder of the eyewear label Tarian and son of legendary optical pioneer Alain Mikli.
Speaking during his recent visit to Johannesburg at Peers & Fisher in Dunkeld, Miklitarian reflected on growing up inside a family where design was less a profession and more a language spoken fluently at home.
“It’s family DNA,” he says. “Also, we all have to wear glasses. I have to wear glasses with a very strong prescription. So from very young there was this relationship between necessity and creation.”
That relationship began early. Remarkably early. Miklitarian designed his first frame when he was only 12. “I had this chance to create my own frame when I was 12, so it became a hobby. This mix of creating a product that allows you to see but that is also about design and colour fascinated me.”
He laughs when recalling the result. “It was not very nice. It was uncomfortable. Nobody said, ‘Oh, I like this frame’. But I didn’t care because I knew it was the only one in the world.”
That emotional connection to individuality still sits at the centre of Tarian today. Founded in Paris in 2011, the brand has quietly developed a cult following among architects, artists and discerning wearers who are drawn to its sculptural elegance and intellectual restraint. The frames feel expressive without becoming theatrical and beautifully original without trying too hard.
At the Tarian atelier in Paris, every collection begins with colour before shape. “We always start from the colour,” Miklitarian explains. “We create our own colours first and then we decide the shape we are able to make. We work with three different productions, one in France and two in Italy, but everything begins with the feeling of the material and the colours.”
Acetate remains his material of choice because of its richness and depth. “I love acetate because it is a natural material and you can have thousands of colour variations. I don’t really follow trends too much but there are always certain moods in colour. Right now, I love gradient colours because they are elegant and discreet.”
Yet for all the artistry, Miklitarian insists the true success of a frame lies in something rooted in practicality.
“Before the colour or the design, a good frame has to be comfortable. You wear it on your face for 18 hours a day. Even your shoes you eventually take off at home, but glasses stay with you. The ergonomics are the most important part of my work. A good frame is the one you don’t feel.”
Then, smiling, he adds the line that drew laughter around the room. “It’s like the best husband or wife. The best one is the one you forget.”
There is a quiet poetry to the way Miklitarian speaks about design and daily life. Unlike the performative wellness rituals so often associated with creative industries today, his pleasures are simpler and deeply rooted in Paris itself.
“I just drink coffee,” he says. “We have the chance to live in Paris so I bike through old Paris for 10 minutes to arrive at the office. Because we are a small independent business, I have to do everything: design, business, marketing. But every day from around four to six in the afternoon I try to reconnect with the city somehow. It can just be sitting in a café, going to a museum or spending time with my little daughter. Paris is a treasure.”
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