By the time VOA began appearing in top-tier boutiques across Europe and Asia, many in the independent eyewear world were asking the same question: Where did this brand come from?
Not since the early days of Rigards or Kuboraum has a label emerged with such a distinct ideological core, one that feels as much philosophical as it is aesthetic.
The answer, it turns out, traces back to an unlikely setting: a rooftop in Barcelona during the global lockdown.
A Rooftop Awakening
While most of the world waited for life to “go back to normal,” designers Blanco de la Osa and Felipe Duque came to a different conclusion. Normal, they felt, had become overrated.
“It happened during those pandemic sunsets,” recalls de la Osa. “The world was frozen, and we were staring at the horizon as if it were a runway. That’s where we understood that the essential was right in front of us freedom, identity, purpose.”
There was no pitch deck, no accelerator, no business plan. “VOA wasn’t a strategy,” he says. “It was a powerful intuition on a rooftop. And the decision to go all in.”
That emotional rawness equal parts introspection and defiance has become the brand’s signature energy.
A Counter-Market Position
In an industry saturated with formula-driven collections and seasonally rotating silhouettes, VOA deliberately operates on another frequency.
“The current eyewear market is full of brands chasing visibility instead of purpose,” de la Osa says. “We chose to step outside the noise.”
The brand positions itself not as an accessories label, but as a conceptual maison. It’s an approach reminiscent of niche luxury houses that privilege message over mass.
“We don’t design accessories,” he insists. “We design structures for perception objects that invite pause, presence, and a reminder of who you are.”
In an era where optical retail is becoming increasingly aestheticized, this articulation resonates with boutiques seeking work that elevates rather than decorates.
A Design Process Rooted in Consciousness
Many brands speak about inspiration. VOA talks about consciousness. De la Osa describes his creative process as a near-ritualistic practice:
“I don’t design. I meditate. I let life flow through me. What emerges are structures that invite you to see differently and therefore to be differently.”
The frames exist, he explains, “between two points in time: ancient civilizations and Kyoto in 2080.”
This duality anchors the strong sculptural lines, hieroglyphic motifs, and the phrase I AM GOD engraved across various models not as provocation, but as what he calls “a reminder of authorship and inner awareness.”
Each piece follows a strict process: strip emotion to geometry, refine until meaning remains, balance form and energy, and create an internal shift in the wearer.
The result is eyewear that feels less trend-driven and more like wearable architecture.
Materiality as Philosophy
VOA’s material choices reinforce its conceptual positioning.
Japanese pure titanium serves as the structural backbone. “It feels like weightless architecture,” says de la Osa, describing frames that seem to suspend on the face.
Gold plating introduces symbolic warmth: “Gold is not decoration,” he explains. “It’s energy. Every reflection becomes an act of illumination.”
High-density Takiron acetate, sourced from Japan, is selected for its psychological depth colors chosen not for seasonal relevance but for emotional resonance.
“Color is emotion,” he says. “Not ornament.”
Even the lenses carry ideological weight. They’re designed to modulate light in a way that creates contemplative perception. “To see differently is to see truly,” he adds.
Craft Over Scale But Not Anti-Commercial
Though crafted by Japanese artisans using time-intensive methods, VOA is not nostalgic about craftsmanship. It treats limitation as strategy.
“Balancing artisanal production with commercial realities is not a contradiction for us,” says Duque. “It’s our operating system. We don’t accelerate processes; we refine them. Others scale through volume; we scale through intention.”
This clarity is partly why the brand has entered high-end boutiques so quickly. There is no aggressive sales machine behind VOA only the consistency of its message and the distinctiveness of its product.
“Doors open because the project carries real energy,” Duque notes. “People feel it in the pieces, in the conversations, in everything.”
A Market in Mutation
The founders believe the independent eyewear landscape is undergoing a cultural shift.
“The optical space of the future won’t sell glasses,” de la Osa says. “It will sell curation, architecture, sensitivity, discernment.”
According to him, volume-driven optical chains are losing relevance as consumers demand objects with soul, not just function.
“Luxury stops being a label,” he says. “It returns to being vision.”
The Next Decade
The founders’ long-term perspective goes far beyond retail expansion.
“VOA will evolve into a maison of contemporary consciousness,” de la Osa says. “A living gallery where every object awakens the human spirit.”
He imagines environments where design, technology, and awareness merge spaces that behave like temples of inner silence rather than showrooms.
Whether that vision becomes reality is something the market will decide. Yet one thing is certain: in an industry where new brands often look like variations of the familiar, VOA is operating in a realm few dare to enter.
For now, its origins remain its clearest statement: a brand born not from strategy, but from a rooftop, a sunset, and an intuition strong enough to reimagine what eyewear can be.
