The brain behind independent eyewear maker MYKITA talks brand traditions and collaborations
Moritz Krueger says every step of the production is done in-house by inspired artisans
MYKITA, an independent German creative handcrafted eyewear maker, has built an impressive portfolio since its conception in 2003 - scoring innovative collaborations with fashion brands Bernhard Willhelm, Maison Margiela, and most recently, Martine Rose.
The brand’s ultramodern design and lightweight construction has earned it awards from Red Dot Design Award to German Design Award. We spoke with the creative mind behind the brand, Moritz Krueger, about brand philosophy and the idea behind “Echo” - a collaboration with Maison Margiela.
What does MYKITA mean?
MYKITA is the German abbreviation for kindergarten, which is where we founded MYKITA, an old kindergarten. Back then, we didn’t know how to run a business or make a product, so we thought maybe ‘kindergarten’ is a nice reference - to go back to this culture of learning and going back to basics. Later, we went to Tokyo for our presentation and the people there told us MYKITA means the people who came from the north. The other founders and I all come from a very small town in the north of Germany so we thought that made sense.
You said MYKITA is also an expensive, and more than just a brand. Can you elaborate on that?
I think we are a very personal brand. We have a fully integrated business philosophy. In Berlin at the MYKITA house - a physical building in which everything happens, from the original product idea to the whole manufacturing process - every product is not only designed and produced by us. People are getting something straight out of our hands.
In our retail stores, a lot of elements you find are from the original elements that we used to build our previous furniture. People are our biggest value. There are people who are being inspired working for our brand every day.
How important is social media to the brand?
It is and it is not important. We use social media a lot but we are really curating the channel. We leave a little bit of view behind the scenes but there is a strong border. For example, we had Kim K and two or three other celebrities wearing MYKITA glasses last week, but we are not posting them on social media channels. For all our brand explorers, people expect more integrity. Authenticity is important to me, and we take our customers seriously. I don’t want to forge a different reality on social media.