Where change is tradition

When you enter the Mykita building, the front table is dead ahead. Here we see Damien Murphy, pressing the outlines of a pair of glasses out of a sheet of stainless steel. Or to be more precise, the front – the part that distinguishes a pair of glasses. 

It’s here, at the front table, that you can best see what sets Mykita apart from most other manufacturers. The Berlin-based company has been making eyewear for almost 20 years, the mainstay of which continue to be products made of steel, and it’s at the “front table” that Damien and his colleagues first try out whether new ideas from the design department work. “We have an easier ride than many other manufactories”, says Mykita boss Moritz Krüger, adding that “there’s no tradition here that we have to protect”. They’ve never seen themselves as custodians of a craft. On the contrary, what’s traditional here is change and experimentation. 

When Krüger decided in 2003 to launch an eyewear label with his three co-founders, who have since left the company, he didn’t actually intend to set up his own production facility. It just turned out that way. Many steps in the process had to be developed in-house. “The way we handle the material is something no eyewear manufacturer normally does,” says Krüger. For example, the lenses of the stainless steel glasses are so delicately embedded in the steel frames that they almost seem to be floating. Stainless steel glasses are Mykita classics these days. 

When Moritz Krüger talks, his dog Karl never leaves his side. With his calm voice, Krüger seems reserved in a north German way, all the while managing to fill the room with his physical presence. He seems casual and determined at the same time, a range that he also expects of his company. At the Mykita building in the heart of Kreuzberg, producing a fashionable niche product is not what it’s all about. Instead, the aim is to create eyewear for all ages, for fashionistas and technology enthusiasts, from big cities and villages. 

English is spoken at many of the workbenches, and the average age of the employees is 37, which is at the low end for a workshop, although it has gone up in recent years simply because many of the 280 Berlin employees have been working at Mykita since the early days and have aged with the company.

That’s the way of the world also at the front table. Electronic music is streamed on the computer while a dartboard hangs on the wall beside a note proclaiming  “Nur die Darten kommen in den Garten” (a play on the German expression “nur die Harten kommen in den Garten”, which loosely translates as “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”). Next to the workbench, we don’t see any calendars with yellowing pin-ups, but photo collages reminiscent of Dadaist art.

An employee stands at a bending bench and brings the nose pad levers into the right shape. In an extremely congenial way, he explains what he is doing. When asked about his job title, he says that there isn’t one in particular. “The job description only exists here; it’s learning by doing.”

Still, at Mykita, precise craftsmanship is an important part of the job. Many techniques originated in eyewear manufacturing 100 or 200 years ago, and the tools were often refined in-house, or custom-made for new models. Various pliers are lined up on a shelf – one for each shape.

In the next room, the frames are being processed; using a magnifying glass, an employee checks whether he’s bent the spiral joint exactly as the template dictates.Mykita glasses don’t require screws or glue. Instead, a small spiral is hooked into the frame at the end of the rim.The spiral hinge was the first patent. Many others have joined the fray, not only for technical solutions, but also for materials, such as super-light Mylon, which is used to manufacture glasses with 3D printing technology.

So manufacture is something that’s quite essential at Mykita. While in retrospect it seems as if Moritz Krüger had a precise roadmap from the outset, things actually developed step by step: “In the beginning, our structures weren’t really based on conscious strategic decisions; many aspects emerged from the product itself. The realisation often came a little later on, and with it a unique identity.”

Krüger sits in the conference room. Wooden boxes filled with samples of materials stacked behind him. 
Platelets of acetate and sheet steel, colourfully painted. In addition, round lenses in a wide variety of shades. The colours for the glasses worn by actress Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in the current “Sex and the City” sequel “And Just Like That” also hang here – purple and blue. Speaking of “Sex and the City”, “the attention we’ve received thanks to this has been great, but it’s not a patch on the sensation that the Franz model caused in 2010”, says Krüger. Back then, Paris-based designer Bernhard Wilhelm collaborated with Mykita on a pair of large sunglasses with gold-mirrored lenses for one of his avant-garde collections, which was intended to evoke the ski fashion of the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics. 

When actress Sarah Jessica Parker wore the unusual accessory in the second feature film of the famous series, Mykita’s fame skyrocketed. “That was a very super-ficial hype; it had nothing to do with our actual products”, says Krüger. Mykita cashed in on this nonetheless. Many discovered the glasses at the time and have remained loyal customers to this day. “Not because of the message, but because of the quality”, Moritz adds.

When Moritz Krüger walks through the corridors of the Mykita store, he gives his staff a nod, and sometimes says hey or hello. Encounters with his employees are friendly and casual. There’s no need to get worked up because the boss is coming over “The short distances mean you can implement ideas quickly,” says Krüger. 

We can see what that means in times of the pandemic when the boss opens the door to the Global Sales department. There are desks with computers and two workbenches. At one of the workbenches, a woman is working on the front of a pair of stainless steel glasses. “Working from home isn’t an option in production. That’s why we’ve distributed the workstations throughout the building”, says Krüger. That’s 5000 m2 from the ground floor to the fourth floor, spread over the side wing and front and rear buildings in the over hundred-year-old complex.

When Mykita was founded, there were no independent eyewear labels that also operated their own stores. Since then, the market for designer eyewear has grown tenfold. “I’d be lying if I said that none of this is our fault”, says the Mykita boss with a grin.

Today, Mykita has 17 stores of its own in Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York and Zurich, among others. The latest store recently opened in Mexico City. “This helps us as a brand to present ourselves directly and authentically and creates a connection with the customer,” says Krüger. Mykita also continues to make a name for itself thanks to collaborative partnerships with designer outlets such as Moncler and Martin Margiela. The aim was never to print a big logo on a pair of Mykita glasses, but to develop something new together. This is also the case with the collaboration with camera manufacturer Leica. The glasses don’t just look technical, but also feature lenses that the two companies developed together.

Back to the front table one last time. Here, an employee wearing a black sweatshirt and hood pulled down low over his face uses a pair of padded pliers to bend into shape a top line that looks a little bit like a roof for the eyes. It has very fine grooves, like the serrated aperture ring on a camera lens. It’s a detail that helps people to recognise the Leica glasses later on – and a work step that was invented here at the front table.

This article has first been published in the printed edition of 30 Grad in spring 2022. Get your free subscription.