BY DESIGN : Glasses Menagerie : Mat Pekjon Frames an Argument for Unique Eye Wear

Sunglasses, says Newport Beach designer Mat Pekjon, can be a source of attitude--of the bold and beautiful variety.

Pekjon’s hand-embellished frames exclaim individuality, glamour and self-confidence.

Pekjon, 35, covers frames and temples with tiny rhinestones, larger faux gems and metal elements such as pretty bows or medieval-like hardware. On one style, he set the temples with blue and white rhinestone waves and silver dolphins. For client Paulette Schier, Miss Georgia USA 1995, he used red, white and blue crystals to decorate temples with the image of the United States flag.

He applies paint--usually in bronze or silver--with precise brush strokes. Patterns imitate animal spots, cobblestones, vines, flowers and geometric lines and shapes. Lately, he’s been inspired by winter to create a whimsical, limited edition series featuring hand-painted snowmen, snow-capped mountains and trees or holly leaves.

For surf champion Kim Hamrock’s ski goggles, he painted surfers in action.

Pekjon says Hamrock, who is known for her funky eye wear, has requested other frames, including an ultra dazzling cat-eye style.

“My glasses are for the woman who wants to make a statement and who is not afraid to be different,” he says. “Most women look beautiful in them but might not be courageous enough to carry them off. They’re a conversation piece, and you have to be ready for the attention.”

Before optics, Pekjon pursued a range of careers, all of which he says contributed to his foray into fashion. He left Istanbul, Turkey, to study European art and history at Oxford in the mid-1970s, only to return home after graduation to manage the family farm.

In 1979, he emigrated to the United States to study interior design and architecture at the University of Missouri. A degree lead to employment with a West Palm Beach interior design firm. But the regulations and codes involved in building and renovating proved too frustrating, he said, and in 1985 he ventured to California to try his creative hand at graphic design work. Later he returned to Turkey to be with his ailing father; there he worked in the stuffy corporate world of Lloyd’s of London.

When he returned to Southern California in 1990 after his father’s death, he began designing women’s jewelry. Two years later, optical frames became the “practical canvas” for his creative talent, he said. Pieces in his ever-evolving collection sell for $40 to $110; they are available at Denise Z in Newport Beach.

“My clientele appreciates that my glasses are not mechanically perfect; the symmetry is not exact. I give that human feeling of being handmade,” he says. “I’m never going to prostitute the idea to be in department stores. It would dilute the idea behind them.”