When those 4 friends started the Mykita project in Berlin, they were not expecting being where they are today. It’s without any pretention that Moritz Krueger, Philipp Hafmans, Daniel Hafmans et Harald Gottschling have launched an eyewear brand which brought something new into the market.
MYKITA has managed to develop itself strategically and constructively trough the time. Following their desire, its 4 founders decided not getting into the mass market, prefering an irreproachable technical product with a flawless design. Today, if MYKITA continues to inspire, it’s thanks to a high standard distribution strategy and its well thought collaborations as with Damir Doma, Bernhard Willhelm, or Maison Martin Margiela lately.
MYKITA gained a strong position on the eyewear market all around the world by adapting its product to every culture (Europe, Asia, America). Today, the brand owns 11 boutiques and is sold in more than 60 countries. The May 4th Moritz Krueger was in town for the launch of the new Parisian store, rue du Pont aux Choux. We went there for you :
Axel Aurejac: I would like you to introduce MYKITA ?
Moritz Krueger: « Mykita is a brand which start at the early century, in 2003 in Berlin. We did not have so much idea of the industry and we were just studying, experimenting things with many differents materials without having really a lot of knowledges about the [eyewear] industry. We came up with a new concept, which is just made O,5 millimeter standard steel, falling and banding with the Japanese principle of origami. And so that’s how the first pair of glasses has been create. »
A: How do you produce the MYKITA eyewear ?
MK: « We are having a completely vertical integrated business, from the idea, to the product, the production and the sale. We do pretty much everything in the house. We have high expectation on our production process and in my opinion, sustanability is when your glasses last long, and that’s what we try to do. »
A: How MYKITA has started ?
MK: « At the beginning it was very standard. We didn’t really know where we will end up. What we knew is that we wanted to make our own thing and to run our own business in order to keep our creativity, our freedom and trying things out. For our first collection, in 2003, we introduce MYKITA in a fashionshow. People liked it and saw an innovative and creative concept, while the first collection was pretty much made with an industrial design. Our design was less related to the fashion. It was rough. We had this pure vision of creating and becoming our own entrepreneur. Our first office when we’ve started, was in a Kindergarden (crèche). It was fitting us, we did not have any knowledge, and we wanted constantly to grow, like kids. We progressed quickly from the feedback we received »
A: What is your background ? Have you been involved in the eyewear market before starting MYKITA ?
MK: « Not really, I just started the company when I was 22. I was studying at the university, but then this project came in my life. In my opinion, with business, there is nothing that you can really learn. You have to try to understand, and then there are these people who give you a hand and join your company. Berlin is a great place for that. »
A: What is the archetype of your client ?
MK: « It’s very diverse – open minded people from all demographics who value original design. »
A: It has been 14 years that MYKITA is based in Berlin, don’t you think that one day your creativity may slow down by remaining in Berlin ?
MK: « The only strategy I believe in is to set the pre condition that the talents who are inside the company, everyone else, myself, we can be unfold. The creativity is a process coming from everything that is not so specific. Our ideas are coming from differents people, like my designers team, the product development team, and the research development team. So a lot of inspiration is coming from the manufacturing process, technology, from things we can find in the industry and we can adopte and use it. The styling, the shape, the color is coming at the very end of the process. This is the most simple part of the work. The most difficult part is to work on the construction. We have to find a construction that fit the material, technical solutions and so on. »
A: If you had to describe MYKITA in 3 words, which ones will it be ?
MK: « Phew, pow, wow! »
A: If you had to compare MYKITA with a song, which one will it be ?
MK: « PJ Harvey – A Place Called Home »
