Le Petit Lunetier, founded by Elie Attias and Jeremie Encaoua, embodies the essence of luxury eyewear, offering exquisitely crafted designs that blend timeless elegance with contemporary flair. Jeremie, who was in India recently, speaks to Indulge about the brand’s new collaboration with Lenskart.
Q. What sparked this international partnership?
A. Bjorn Bergstrom contacted me in Dec 2022. We hopped on a discovery call, and decided to meet two months later, in Feb 2023, at the Mido, the international eyewear fair. We met with Peyush Bansal and Bjorn Bergstrom over coffee, and it clicked.
Q. In what ways do you see Le Petit Lunetier’s ethos and design philosophy aligning with Lenskart’s vision and customer base?
A. Lenskart’s vision is to bring the best offer in terms of choice and quality. They also need to serve customers who are fashion-forward, globally-inspired, and aspiring for premium value. We are bringing a premium product with a premium brand, which we have decided to position as accessible luxury in the Indian market. Lenskart allows us to expand internationally while developing our brand in all Asia and the Middle East. We are bringing a new brand, a new offer and new positioning to their customers.
Q. How do you plan to incorporate Indian cultural elements or preferences into your eyewear designs, if at all, to cater to the local demands?
A. This collaboration has been instrumental in seamlessly integrating our products into stores in India, ensuring a tailored approach to meet the unique demands of the local market. Through extensive coordination between design experts at Lenskart and LPL, we've meticulously refined our offerings, focusing on customised printing, frame selection, and introducing captivating colour variations. Leveraging Lenskart’s unparalleled expertise, we’ve successfully adapted our products to resonate with the preferences and tastes of the local audience, thus enhancing our brand’s relevance and accessibility in the market.
Q. Among your creations, do you have a personal favourite piece that you believe perfectly represents Le Petit Lunetier's essence?
Absolutely! For women, my favourite is Annie.J. We also have a new design that will be for the next batch called Romy, it’s currently sold out in our stores.
For men, I like the Will.B. But the next collection we are designing already has some of my new favourites.
Q. How are the trends in eyewear evolving?
Regarding trends, we have observed several trends in our local market. Blue light lenses are requested by customers even from those who don’t need a prescription. People use it as a fashion accessory and protect from the long exposure to screens. Acetate large frames have been making a big comeback. People need to be educated about their eyesight health and understand it better. Customers are sometimes facing complex prescriptions and are not able to understand offers from most brands, and prices. So, placing the experience in store is at the heart of our approach, not just selling, but educating them, is what makes us different from the competition. We are not just selling them products. We do our best to help them understand their needs.
Q. Can we expect exclusive collections or India-specific designs from Le Petit Lunetier in the future?
A. This is definitely in our plans. We also have a lot of designs we are producing now that we will launch first on the Indian market, as the scale is different than on our local market.
We also believe that the Indian customer is fashion-forward, globally-inspired, and aspiring for premium value. So, we believe that the Indian market will help us test and try more frames, more styles, and do it before our product launch in France. We will also discuss local partnerships to strengthen the brand, and this will be leading to exclusive drops and designs.
— manuvipin@newindianexpress.com