YOU MAWO
Technology Pioneer
“We are never satisfied with the state of the art. This is the motivation that drives us to further develop and optimize.”
You Mawo is one of the pioneers of 3D printing in the eyewear industry. Founded in 2016 and based in South Germany, the brand is not only loved by its users, but also highly respected by opticians with its collections. We present you an interview with Sebastian Zenetti, one of the Co-Founders of You Mawo, which proudly bears the ‘Made in Germany’ label, about the establishment of the brand, the technologies used and the production processes.
Hello Sebastian. How did you decide to establish You Mawo? What was your main motivation?
Initially, we hadn’t really planned to launch another eyewear brand to compete with all of the great brands that are already out there. In my circle of friends, we explored lots of new technologies, just as a hobby. In our travels, we noticed that, while the world and people of various cultures are incredibly diverse, we all just consume mass-market products. That was our inspiration. A few years later, we were finally certain that we could use new technologies to offer a unique and sustainable concept that would create real value for consumers as well as opticians. That was the start of an incredible journey for us, our team, our customers and our partners with a lot of highs and lows.
Your brand produces fully 3D printed glasses. What is the reason for this? What are the most important benefits of 3D printing?
I cannot say that we are only focused on 3D printing. 3D printing or additive manufacturing is just a means to an end. We use a 3D printing technology called Powder Bed Fusion. Right now, we consider that to be the best technology available for creating light, durable and customized products sustainably. If another technology were to come along that has more or different advantages, then we are going to use it. We’re often regarded as a tech company, but we consider technology to be a means to an end. People are our real focus.
Could you explain additive manufacturing and why do you prefer it?
Additive Manufacturing (AM) is understood as a production technology where materials are added onto each other, as opposed to most contemporary production technologies, where processes are used to remove material. This approach is far more resource and energy efficient. Of course, there are also many different kinds of AM technologies. We use the Powder Bed Fusion technology, which involves melting a very fine polyamide powder using a laser and then applying it in layers. To our system, it’s totally irrelevant whether you make a hundred identical or a hundred completely unique pairs of glasses. That allows you to focus on producing on demand, and on making custom pieces. We can also recycle most of the remaining powder, which means we generate far less waste than traditional manufacturing processes.
What are the key features of 3D printed glasses?
They are thirty percent lighter than traditional acetate glasses and they’re more durable with a carbon footprint that’s only a third of what we get from acetate production. It’s a very sustainable way to make eyewear.
Your eyewear designs are based on prototype frame with a more basic design. What does that mean, exactly?
The design process starts with pen and paper, as you would expect. Our two designers create the basic design, which is then turned into a parameterized 3D design using our own proprietary software. We can then put that design onto scans of our target market to try them out and then optimize them. After that, we start prototyping, where we start actually printing the first few models. Thanks to our designers’ experience and the optimization we do using out software, the result at this step is usually already very close to the final product. At the end, our software department goes over it one more time and calculates an average face shape based on our data for our target market, which we then use to fine tune the design.
How do you customize an eyewear model further after all that?
Oftentimes the glasses will already fit quite well in their standard form. If a customer’s face shape is a bit outside of that average, or the customer just really wants a perfectly sized pair of glasses, the optician can scan the customer’s face in using an iPad. With that, we can adjust the design to fit the customer’s face exactly.
Why is it important to you to keep production in Germany?
We founded You Mawo in 2016 in Constance, and our headquarters are still there. In general, you could argue that Germany has the strictest requirements for us, but we don’t see that as an obstacle, really. Rather, it’s an opportunity to push for higher standards and to ensure a solid quality standard.
Could we say that manufacturing in Germany gives you a competitive advantage?
Made in Germany still means a lot to people in many markets internationally. We enjoy having that “Made in Germany” seal, and we’re proud that we get to actively help shape the reputation of that label.
You have a local production concept based on needs. What would you like to say about this?
Traditional production technologies are almost always designed for mass production. Glasses need to be produced in massive numbers with a lot of lead time, three to twelve months or even longer. In the optics industry we have thirty percent overproduction—nearly one in three pairs of glasses that’s produced is never sold. The number of individual models doesn’t matter in our production cycles. We can produce on demand, react to new trends quickly, and even adjust to regional needs and peculiarities. That allows us to avoid the risk of overproduction, which also helps us when it comes to pricing.
You aim to further expand your concept of local production and decentralized production. Could we learn your reasons?
The eyewear market is organized like the fashion industry, with centralized production. There, it doesn’t matter at all whether production is in Germany, Italy or China. The product is made or assembled at one location, and then shipped off to a central head office, from where it gets sent off to opticians all over the world. We are changing that. As soon as a market is large enough, we’ll build a local production hub and produce in that market, for that market. This allows us to keep out supply chains short while still guaranteeing our quality standards. We keep the development as well as data sovereignty in Germany. As a result, we also maintain the strict data protection guidelines that we have here, and everything is taxed and monitored from here.
You’re already 100% carbon neutral. Is there still any motivation for you to boost sustainability further?
Yes, of course. Every business should anchor sustainability deeply into their own Dna, always considering ways to improve. For example, since 2021 we’ve also become “plastic positive”. Not only do we abstain from using plastics as much as possible, we also remove a larger amount from the oceans. That makes us not just carbon neutral, but carbon negative. Basically, we are never satisfied with “state of the art” as it is. That’s the motivation driving us to look for ways to develop and optimize further.
Could you tell us about the general characteristics of the collections you have launched? Does your new range have anything in common with the others in terms of design?
As You Mawo, we have four basic collections that we offer for a variety of user types and styles. The Bold Collection is for characters who like bolder and bold lines. The Fineline Collection is a versatile line. The faceplates, made of polyamide, weigh about as much as a piece of paper without the lenses, for which we developed our own patented hinge. Design Lab is like a pool for new and creative ideas and we have Young Mawo Line for the younger generation. Our newly launched sunglasses collection has design influences from these four core lines, but it has its own unique spirit and definitely reflects our ambition in the market.
Have there been any models that you’ve removed from the collections over the years?
As a rule, we allow designs to phase out to keep the collections compact. However, we have all of the data saved, so if a customer comes back after five years, we can reproduce his model, no problem. We can’t make any guarantees about the exact colors, but that just means you get your favorite model in a new shade.
Kaynak: Favrspecs
May 2023