Made-in-Japan design in Dutil’s latest lineup designed by Dickstein, the collab. frames had forest green acetate, a pink polarized sunglass clip and gold-plated titanium accents. “It’s one of my favourite colour combinations that I use all the time — that kind of dark, jewel-tone green, with a kind of candy pink and gold,” Dixon said. 

All hypotheticals aside, though, Dixon admits that, while settling on the colour selects was an easy task, deciding where to put said shades on a ‘canvas’ that’s decidedly smaller than what he’s accustomed to working on proved to be a more tricky task.

The hardest part came when Dixon had to decide where to put the colour shades. “There’s not much surface area for colour in eyewear,” Dixon says. “So, we came up with the idea of the clips to make the pink an option for a pop of colour.”

As soon as he saw the completed glasses, Dixon knew he’d made the right choice. Why? Well, because he loved them.

Dixon’s use of colour for the design left Dickstein, a 23-year veteran of the premium eyewear industry, suitably impressed. “He made me think about colour in a completely different way in eyewear,” Dickstein, who is also the owner of the Vancouver-based boutiques Dutil Denim and Durant Sessions, says. “I could show you that same frame in a different colour format, and it does not even touch to the premium-luxury essence that this piece has.”

In addition to the frames, each pair was numbered for authenticity and was packaged within a leather case featuring a miniature version of one of Dixon’s celebrated paintings and a pink cleaning cloth. 

“Everything, from the packaging, down to the nuances of the frame … you can’t do better than what he chose,” Dickstein says. “It’s what his artwork is, in actual form.” The collaboration eyewear design represents the perfect balance between practical fashion pieces and art, according to the designer. Though, he’s not so sure how ‘practical’ they will prove in his own, personal eyewear collection.

For more information, read: https://vancouversun.com/life/fashion-beauty/andy-dixon-partners-with-vancouver-based-eyewear-brand-dutil-on-new-limited-edition-release

Friendship took Brad Wilk and Eric Dickstein of Vancouver-based Dutil Eyewear to create a limited-edition sunglasses collection to raise money for the homeless. 

Wilk has played powerhouse timekeeper to bands like Rage Against the Machine, Prophets of Rage, and Audioslave.

The pair are also auctioning off a Wilk-signed Gretsch drum kit donated by DW Drums. Both the sunglasses and the kit raise money for PATH—a California nonprofit dedicated to finding permanent housing for those in need.

Dickstein and Wilk have known each other since they were two, spending their childhood in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley and sharing a love of music. Dickstein vividly remembers jumping around the house to MTV.

While Wilk went on to play on multi-platinum records and the stages of the world’s biggest music festivals, Dickstein worked with Los Angeles premium eyewear brand Oliver Peoples. He later moved into designing his eyewear styles via Dutil and his Vancouver-based store Durant Sessions. The Dutil brand has collaborated with other creatives, from Vancouver artist Andy Dixon to English actor Samuel Barnett.

Staying friends into adulthood, Wilk and Dickstein have combined their style skills on classic sunglasses with a Southern Californian vibe. Wilk has a well-known affinity for the number three, so the collab features 33 frames in both navy and black. Designed in Vancouver and crafted by artisans in Sabae, Japan, each pair comes with custom cleaning cloths and a custom case.

The Dutil x Brad Wilk eyewear collection is available at Durant Sessions (315 West Cordova Street and 2539 Main Street in Vancouver) and select optical stores around North America. Meanwhile, watch for the drum-kit auction when it goes live online; see dutileyewear.com/ for more details.

For more information please read: https://www.straight.com/life/1363436/vancouver-based-dutil-eyewear-collab-drummer-brad-wilk-raises-funds-good-cause