Behind the Scenes with YUN Berlin
Former fashion designer Jiyoon Yun and her father, CJ, founded Yun Berlin moved by a common dissatisfaction with largely overpriced glasses and the conviction that, what is for many an essential product and component of everyday life, should be of the highest quality yet still affordable and accessible to all. From such a premise, the father and daughter duo went about creating their own brand, combining the former’s expertise in the optics industry and technical skills together with the latter’s eye for design, creativity and business knowledge. The result is quite straightforward, yet unique: a fusion of South Korean minimalist heritage and Berlin’s fashion taste and inclinations, of design and function, of modern technology and artisanship.
“I always strive to maintain the equilibrium between bold and classic, simple and stylish”
Minimalism informs not only the design of Yun’s frames, which are classic, timeless but with an international flair to them, independent from seasonal trends and therefore long-lasting, but the final price and the overall time and system of production. All of their variants cost between 99 and 149 euros (depending on the material used for the frame), and the secret behind such a reasonable price is that the entire supply chain is in their hands. In fact, the customer can follow the whole process of completion of the chosen glasses - from the selection of the right model and lenses among the 10.000 available, to the final fitting and adjustments personally conducted by the staff - and have them ready in about twenty minutes. The fully automated in-house milling machine receives the general information and prescription data, then begins to cut the lenses according to the frame shape and in a matter of minutes, the glasses can already be worn.
Yun’s technique and the materials used, uranium, stainless steel or premium acetate, guarantee longevity and high quality to every pair of glasses - a combination of equally robust and flexible frames, and anti-reflective and water-repellent lenses, the two parts fixed together with special OBE screws that prevent them from loosening and stretching. And although their approach is fully transparent and rather conscious, there is always room for improvement and innovation. This is why the brand is evolving and embracing new sustainable practices, slowly switching their acetate to bio acetate, which looks and feels the same as the conventional one, but isn’t made from the same harmful plasticisers. Instead, this material is biodegradable, recyclable and obtained from renewable resources, making your glasses or sunnies of lower impact for the planet.
Novelty doesn't merely happen at a structural level, but it influences the external features of Yun’s eyewear as well. The team is constantly seeking to “widen their vision” and to involve artists and creative people in the design process to broaden their customer base and remain enthusiastic about their projects. For instance, in the past they collaborated with designer Hien Le on some very special frames, and much more is yet to come. Meanwhile, their store in Berlin Mitte keeps setting the standards in the optics industry, in terms of speed, quality, price and design.
