Frames of Reference

Mass-customization isn’t just for clothes.

Carol Norbeck is the operator of Optical Illusions, a chain of three eyeglasses stores in Seattle that for the past year has used a digital camera to create the perfect glasses for a customer.

“No longer do you have to fit into the limited selection in a store,” says Norbeck, who thinks of her 25 pairs of glasses as accessories. “You can have anything you want.”

Here’s how it works: The digital image is fed into a computer, which reads the shapes of the nose, eyes, face and hairline. A separate screen lists adjectives (i.e. “gentle,” “dominant,” “playful,” “soft”) and shows paintings (i.e. Monet, Francis Bacon). The customer chooses four words and two paintings to represent his or her personality. Two minutes later, the client’s face pops up on the screen with the computer’s suggested eyeglass shape.

Optical Illusions’ customized glasses cost about $250 and take a few weeks to produce.