Design engineer and optical journalist “Maarten Weidema” has been designing both eyewear as optical retail interiors since 1999, but now solely writes about his fellow eyewear designers within the optical industry.

His mission is to publish interesting and beautiful content to the international optical arena, backed up by a large group of eyewear influencers and optical journalists from around the globe. He has recently been awarded “International Optical Personality of the Year” for his efforts to promote independent eyewear to a community of 322.000 eye care professionals on his online platform “TEF Magazine”.

Eyewear styling expert, Eva Davé, is an award winning Optical Practice Owner, Optometrist, Image & Colour Consultant and the founder of Eyewear Styling Academy - the U.K.’s first e-learning certified Eyewear Stylist Course.

Her current mission is to empower and equip optical practice owners, dispensing opticians and retail staff in how to boost their income, increase their average dispense value and transform their clients experience. Eva does this through her revolutionary and brand new eyewear styling programme, developed and launched through her e-learning company, the ‘Eyewear Styling Academy’.

Grandson of H. O. Leighton, who established the family firm back in 1928. Ryan is passionate about developing a purpose driven culture to help people to see and to hear, and live life to the full. Ryan is also a big supporter of independent optometry and via The Hearing Care Partnership provides audiology services to a growing group of market leading practices across the UK.

Carole RIEHL has over 20 years of experience as a qualified french optician. Carole has been the editor of Les lunettes Ecologiques Magazine since 2013 and is also a digital eyewear influencer. She regularly puts forward ecobrands and different alternative solutions which respect the planet. For the last 5 years she has been living in a zero waste lifestyle and she applies these principles in her job. Her mission today is to influence the optical industry with her sustainability point of view and she firmly believes opticians can be the change to start ecological transition in the optical industry.

Daniel is the Editor-in-Chief of The Optical Journal and Optical Business News. He is also the founder of dba designs, a Denver based optical marketing and website design firm working with eye care providers and eyewear manufacturers. Daniel is a big proponent of independent optical, helping businesses find their competitive advantage in today’s crowded marketplace.

Flora McLean (born 1971) is the head designer of fashion accessory label House of Flora. Inspired initially my Claude Montana, Pierre Cardin and Andre Courreges to study fashion design, McLean undertook MA in Fashion Womenswear at the Royal College of Art in 1995, prior to establishing the House of Flora label. House of Flora specialises in avant-garde headwear for the catwalk, fashion campaigns and collectors. Working with couture houses and ready to wear, including Givenchy couture, Bill Blass and Diane Von Furstenberg, McLean is often chosen as a collaborator for her innovative ideas and techniques producing dynamic results and graphic impact. Her work has been worn by Rihanna, Kelis, Pauline Black, Roisin Murphy and Beyonce. The work has appeared in Vogue Elle and Instyle amongst others. Flora has recently shown her first menswear hat Collection Hofman she was in the Forbes list “...top 10 menswear labels to watch..” This year House of Flora started making makes hats and eyewear for American singer songwriter Erykah Badu. Erykah wore her pieces in recent world tour. Flora is also currently the senior Fashion lecturer in Footwear Accessories Millinery and Eyewear at The Royal College of Art in London. Her students have been part of 100% Optical fair now for some years.

MyGlassesAndMe (MGAM) was born 8 years ago out of my passion for eyewear and from working in the fashion industry. I found mainstream fashion magazines don’t feature optical glasses because they aren’t seen as “cool”. I’ve been a glasses wearer from a young age and feel this attitude needs to change so I decided to start blogging to share my thoughts on glasses with a fashion twist. In the past 8 years I have learned a lot about the industry, I know fashion, and as a glasses wearer, I know what people will be looking for in a frame.

Melodie Leung is a Senior Associate at Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) and Architecture Editor-at-Large at Ala Champ Magazine. She has been a leading designer within the practice for over a decade and responsible for a number of notable architectural, interior, product and furniture designs.

The Optical Goddess Life is an eyecare professional oriented blog written by Autianna Wilson. Content within this site is geared towards eyecare professionals, eyewear lovers and fashion enthusiasts! Optician and independent eyewear advocate Autianna Wilson, known as “The Optical Goddess,” shares her exceptional skill in frame selection, lens knowledge, and uncensored opinions on eyewear and fashion with more than 10.8k+ followers on Instagram, and on her website which has developed into a trusted optical-insider source. She’s not afraid to be vocal about her passion for the independent eyewear community and to debunk misinformation distributed by online retailers.

https://www.opticalgoddesslife.com/

Jasbir heads the marketing division of FourPlus Media across India, Middle East and SE Asia. He is a well-known personality in the eyewear and perfume industries having spearheaded the growth of the company’s key magazines - VisionPlus, You&Eye and ParfumPlus in the international markets. Based out of Dubai-UAE and trotting across the globe, he has frequent interactions with the industry heads which gives him a keen insight into the functioning of the eyewear and fragrance industry. His peers see him as a friend and confidante who can guide them with his industry knowledge and foresight.

Having over five decades of experience in media, Siraj has been known by his industry peers for his dynamism and innovative ideas. He had started his independent venture with an Advertising firm in the year 1993. Mr.Siraj’s background in advertising and publishing helped him create a niche magazine VisionPlus, which grew in popularity making it the #1 eyewear fashion magazine across India, Middle East and SE Asia. The magazine reaches out to eyecare practitioners across twenty countries today. At the age of 75 now, he is still actively involved in the business and is seen by many in the eyewear industry as an inspiration, with his forward-thinking and innovative approach.