DE SIGN E R IN T E R V IE W
»Mut a to« This thinner frame owes its name to a made-up word combination: »Mutant« blended with »Potato« is the name of Mark’s production company, inspired by DEVO’s lyrical attempts to describe the social pecking order of life, in which they ranged as »spuds« or »potatoes«. But powered by mutation, they take on super-human qualities, all the way to rocking bookish, more scholarly looking frames like these.
An important piece of conventional wisdom
his own artistic vision, starting things off with a
maintains: »Never meet your idols.« Ultimate-
line of eyewear. Was that something Shane could
ly, real life will only disappoint, shattering the
be interested in, perhaps?
glittering aura surrounding the heroes of our
Baum did not have to think twice. »I’ve been a fan
rebellious youth. And that’s especially true in
of Mark’s music career since I was 12 years old
the music business. But what happens when the
and was a member of the DEVO fan club,« said
artist who wrote the soundtrack to your teenage
Shane Baum. And as it turned out, the musician
wanderlust suddenly reaches out to co-design an
had, in turn, also developed an interest in optical
exclusive eyewear collection?
craftsmanship at quite a young age. From necessi-
That’s exactly what recently happened to Shane
ty, mostly. Mothersbaugh was born with extreme
Baum, the California-based designer who has
myopia and astigmatism. For the first seven years
been turning heads in the eyewear business since
of his life, he would constantly bump into walls
starting his own premium label L eisure S oci e t y
and objects, until a proper eye exam revealed that
in 2010. In the summer of 2014, Shane Baum
he was legally blind. »I got my first pair of glasses
received a request from no other than Mark
for my eighth birthday, and saw birds flying, the
Mothersbaugh, the musical trailblazer behind
tops of trees, even clouds for the first time in my
progressive New Wave band DEVO. The musi-
life,« said Mothersbaugh.
cian was in the middle of building his own brand, »It was amazing! I had never seen chimney smoke M ot her sbaugh , to create products according to
or the roof of a house and I immediately started