02
de Maig
de
2016
Act.
03
de Maig
de
2016
"Etnia Barcelona's dream is to be the best brand of glasses in the world," says DavidPellicer (Barcelona 1978), designer of the brand. The company is heir to a long lineage in the optics industry and has become popular with celebrities and international artists. Pellicer comes from a long family tradition in the optics industry that goes back 60 years and the current generation is the third to continue the glasses business. The products are characterised by their explosive colours, and their popularity around the world ensures a turnover of 48 million euros and annual growth of 30%.
"I used to play in the factory"
"My grandfather made glasses, my father worked for Indo and when he married my mother they set up their own glasses factory," says the entrepreneur. "I used to play in the factory, I grew up in this world," he adds.
He began working in his parents' workshop when he was 17, at a time when competition from Asia had made inroads into the business. Pellicer picked up the company his father had tried to launch, Etnia, and tried to sell it. "When we decided to close the factory, the machinery we had was obsolete and did not allow us to be competitive," he says.
It was then that Pellicer left for China: "I began to learn about the market and came to understand that what was required was quality at a good price." So, he decided to launch his own project. He attached the word "Barcelona" to the brand name and opened the business in 2001 with the idea of "becoming the most creative and colourful brand in the international optics industry." Pellicer founded the company when he was 23. Colour, reasonable prices and a gradual rise in quality "are the secrets of Etnia Barcelona's success," says the businessman.
"To be the best"
To reach this objective, the brand has incorporated the "best components on the market." Following his philosophy, the brand is trying to apply vertical integration to the production process and "to do it all ourselves" in order to maximise quality and control of the product. Thus, Etnia Barcelona only outsources those things that "we cannot produce due to the costs, operative efficiency, speed or quality." Quality. This is the concept that runs throughout the company: "We have our own factories because the market does not offer us either the speed or quality we are looking for at the prices we are looking for," says Pellicer. However, wherever their own production does not reach "we try to use the best suppliers and manufacturers of components."
The brand is based in Esplugues, where the glasses are designed, Italy, where they make the components –lenses, frames, metallic components- and China, where the glasses are assembled.
The entire process of making a pair of glasses takes nine months. Everything begins in the Esplugues de Llobregat plant, where Pellicer and his team think up and design the components, colour combinations and models. "In Barcelona we design the prototypes of the collections until we have the perfect glasses, the perfect colour, perfect size, perfect temples, and so on," says the designer.
And "always working with the best suppliers in the world." The lenses Etnia Barcelona uses are by Barberini, "the best on the market –made of extremely high-quality glass-" the coloured sheets are by Mazzucchelli, the largest manufacturer of cellulose acetate in the world.
The coloured sheets are "exclusive from the beginning of the creative process." The manufacturing process has nothing to do with the extrusion or injection processes used by most manufacturers of glasses -less complex, offering much lower quality and incapable of offering such a wide range. Moreover, the materials are ecofriendly, recyclable and biodegradable.
The acetate sheets Etnia Barcelona uses are made from a blend of cotton and acetone to create a paste. The pigments are added using different pressing processes. They are then cut out and laminated to make more than 1,000 different combinations. "Once we have all the components they are sent to China where the glasses are assembled," says Pellicer.
"Each pair of glasses is a work of art"
Pellicer created the brand's first line by "breaking the colour schemes that were on the market," many of which were based on dark colours, black or brown. The first collection caused a storm in the New York Expo, which opened up the first international markets. After only a few years, the brand could be seen at the most important fashion shows -New York, Milan and Paris- and today the glasses are distributed in more than 40 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe in general.
Etnia Barcelona has become known for colour "taken to the extreme" and for making glasses "a tool of expression" between fashion and art. "We have always thought of each pair of glasses as a work of art," says the businessman.
That is why the brand has been picked up by artists when it comes to designing collections and promoting them. Etnia Barcelona has worked with the photographers Araki Nobuyoshi and Steve McCurry and the artist Yves Klein. Moreover, a part of the royalties from the collections go to a foundation or NGO, while the unsold stock is donated to the disadvantaged through the Etnia Barcelona foundation.
The latest line of glasses is a collaboration with the foundation of Jean Michel Basquiat and will be presented in Brooklyn on May 12. By way of anecdote, Pellicer recalls that "Beyoncé's representative called because the singer wanted to get some of the glasses for her daughter." Yet, the brand has also won over other celebrities, such as Kate Mara, January Jones, Jessica Biel, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, Cara Delevingne and Jessica Alba.
A bright future
"We export 92% of production, but we want to get into Asia and have a bigger presence in America," says Pellicer. In Spain, the brand has 1,500 sales outlets, apart from an online store, selling a million pairs of glasses in 2015. With a turnover last year of 48 million euros and growth of 35%, Etnia Barcelona employs 400 people -75 of whom are in Esplugues.
Etnia's future plans include opening a shop in the Catalan capital at the end of this year. "It will be an entire building devoted to sales, with a showroom, training and customer attention, located in the Born district in Santa Maria square itself," says Pellicer. Moreover, there is another important Etnia Barcelona project to bring the family-inspired business full circle: "We plan to bring the factory over to Catalonia in 2018 –almost certainly in the 22@ district- and we are very excited about it."
"I used to play in the factory"
"My grandfather made glasses, my father worked for Indo and when he married my mother they set up their own glasses factory," says the entrepreneur. "I used to play in the factory, I grew up in this world," he adds.
He began working in his parents' workshop when he was 17, at a time when competition from Asia had made inroads into the business. Pellicer picked up the company his father had tried to launch, Etnia, and tried to sell it. "When we decided to close the factory, the machinery we had was obsolete and did not allow us to be competitive," he says.
 |
| David Pellicer, designer and CEO of Etnia Barcelona Photo: Ceded |
It was then that Pellicer left for China: "I began to learn about the market and came to understand that what was required was quality at a good price." So, he decided to launch his own project. He attached the word "Barcelona" to the brand name and opened the business in 2001 with the idea of "becoming the most creative and colourful brand in the international optics industry." Pellicer founded the company when he was 23. Colour, reasonable prices and a gradual rise in quality "are the secrets of Etnia Barcelona's success," says the businessman.
"To be the best"
To reach this objective, the brand has incorporated the "best components on the market." Following his philosophy, the brand is trying to apply vertical integration to the production process and "to do it all ourselves" in order to maximise quality and control of the product. Thus, Etnia Barcelona only outsources those things that "we cannot produce due to the costs, operative efficiency, speed or quality." Quality. This is the concept that runs throughout the company: "We have our own factories because the market does not offer us either the speed or quality we are looking for at the prices we are looking for," says Pellicer. However, wherever their own production does not reach "we try to use the best suppliers and manufacturers of components."
The brand is based in Esplugues, where the glasses are designed, Italy, where they make the components –lenses, frames, metallic components- and China, where the glasses are assembled.
 |
| Etnia Barcelona uses coloured sheets of "the best quality" Photo: Ceded |
The entire process of making a pair of glasses takes nine months. Everything begins in the Esplugues de Llobregat plant, where Pellicer and his team think up and design the components, colour combinations and models. "In Barcelona we design the prototypes of the collections until we have the perfect glasses, the perfect colour, perfect size, perfect temples, and so on," says the designer.
And "always working with the best suppliers in the world." The lenses Etnia Barcelona uses are by Barberini, "the best on the market –made of extremely high-quality glass-" the coloured sheets are by Mazzucchelli, the largest manufacturer of cellulose acetate in the world.
The coloured sheets are "exclusive from the beginning of the creative process." The manufacturing process has nothing to do with the extrusion or injection processes used by most manufacturers of glasses -less complex, offering much lower quality and incapable of offering such a wide range. Moreover, the materials are ecofriendly, recyclable and biodegradable.
The acetate sheets Etnia Barcelona uses are made from a blend of cotton and acetone to create a paste. The pigments are added using different pressing processes. They are then cut out and laminated to make more than 1,000 different combinations. "Once we have all the components they are sent to China where the glasses are assembled," says Pellicer.
"Each pair of glasses is a work of art"
Pellicer created the brand's first line by "breaking the colour schemes that were on the market," many of which were based on dark colours, black or brown. The first collection caused a storm in the New York Expo, which opened up the first international markets. After only a few years, the brand could be seen at the most important fashion shows -New York, Milan and Paris- and today the glasses are distributed in more than 40 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe in general.
Etnia Barcelona has become known for colour "taken to the extreme" and for making glasses "a tool of expression" between fashion and art. "We have always thought of each pair of glasses as a work of art," says the businessman.
That is why the brand has been picked up by artists when it comes to designing collections and promoting them. Etnia Barcelona has worked with the photographers Araki Nobuyoshi and Steve McCurry and the artist Yves Klein. Moreover, a part of the royalties from the collections go to a foundation or NGO, while the unsold stock is donated to the disadvantaged through the Etnia Barcelona foundation.
The latest line of glasses is a collaboration with the foundation of Jean Michel Basquiat and will be presented in Brooklyn on May 12. By way of anecdote, Pellicer recalls that "Beyoncé's representative called because the singer wanted to get some of the glasses for her daughter." Yet, the brand has also won over other celebrities, such as Kate Mara, January Jones, Jessica Biel, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, Cara Delevingne and Jessica Alba.
A bright future
"We export 92% of production, but we want to get into Asia and have a bigger presence in America," says Pellicer. In Spain, the brand has 1,500 sales outlets, apart from an online store, selling a million pairs of glasses in 2015. With a turnover last year of 48 million euros and growth of 35%, Etnia Barcelona employs 400 people -75 of whom are in Esplugues.
Etnia's future plans include opening a shop in the Catalan capital at the end of this year. "It will be an entire building devoted to sales, with a showroom, training and customer attention, located in the Born district in Santa Maria square itself," says Pellicer. Moreover, there is another important Etnia Barcelona project to bring the family-inspired business full circle: "We plan to bring the factory over to Catalonia in 2018 –almost certainly in the 22@ district- and we are very excited about it."