In an industry where speed and scalability often outweigh experimentation, Paloceras has carved out a different path. Founded by two designers who met during a Master’s at ECAL in Switzerland, the brand stands as a testament to the power of craft, curiosity, and narrative. Their frames are sculptural, layered, and uncompromising — designed less for mass-market optimization and more as living objects that restore imagination to eyewear.
Curated Optics sat down with Paloceras’ founders to talk about their origins, challenges, and what it means to grow carefully without losing rarity.
1. Paloceras is rooted in craftsmanship and individuality. Can you tell us about the story behind the brand and how you and Mika came together as co-founders?
Paloceras was never meant to follow a template. It began during a Master’s at ECAL in Switzerland, where I was exploring eyewear and other objects and met Mika, my co-founder. He came from a background in digital design, I came from a more hands-on one. He was moving toward the physical, I was moving toward the digital. We met in the middle.
We found ourselves sketching together, trading thoughts after class, wandering into strange conversations that kept circling back to objects. Eventually we thought, what if we just do this?
The name came when Mika was walking through a park in Lausanne and saw butterflies. He remembered the Latin term Rhopalocera, dropped the “Rho”, added an “s,” and Paloceras was born. We met later at a small African café and registered it on the spot. At that point, there were no frames, no Pebble, just an idea and a name.
2. What has been the most challenging aspect of building Paloceras as a business — sourcing, production, distribution, or brand positioning?
Convincing the supply chain to take us seriously. Our shapes didn’t follow industry logic. Volumes were inflated, lamination was complex, colours layered and strange. Most factories turned us down.
Eventually I went to Shenzhen to meet smaller producers open to experimentation. That unlocked our ability to produce real objects at scale, though still in small batches and hand-finished on all angles to meet our quality standards.
3. Larger formats increase production costs — how does this shift the balance between exclusivity and accessibility?
Our frames are precious. We rarely use stock acetate and most colours are custom-laminated, produced in small batches, and often never repeated. We don’t operate on volume, as for me: less volume = more magic.The shapes are sculptural, but never abstract. They’re still designed to be worn, they have to. Not gallery pieces, but daily objects with presence: intentional, precise, and made to live on the face.
We’re still finding the right balance between exclusive and accessible. There’s strong demand, but we don’t want to compromise the ritual of making. So we grow carefully, by expanding access, not diluting meaning.
4. Your online platform is central to how customers discover Paloceras. How do you communicate the brand’s artisanal value digitally, especially when personalization is such a key element?
We of course do elevated photoshoots, but we also show raw details: acetate sheets, polishing residue, resin prints. We open up the making process, but we frame it like a myth.
BTS sure, but it’s more about adding a layer of magic. The feeling should begin before the frame even arrives. It’s about bringing imagination back into eyewear, restoring a sense of narrative and material poetry. The feeling should begin before the frame even arrives.
We treat digital as a sensory space, not just a sales channel. The way you move through it should feel like you’re already inside the world of the object.
5. What role does customer feedback and data play in shaping future collections or product innovations?
Reactions are important, yes, but we listen more for tone than numbers. When someone says, “this anchors me in the present moment” or “this reminded me of a dream I had,” that resonates.
We’re nudged by feedback, especially when it aligns with a hunch we already had.
But our next step is rarely about what worked. It’s about what’s missing. The shape on the edge of things. The idea waiting to be remembered.
6. Do you see Paloceras expanding into wholesale or retail partnerships, or do you prefer to remain focused on the direct-to-consumer model?
We started direct-to-consumer, but the interest from retailers has grown steadily. We’re now stocked in over 50 locations globally: from Framed Ewe in the US to Shade & Co in South Africa and Focus Focus in France.
We’re selective as we look for stores that understand nuance. Distribution for me is about relationships, not just reach.
7. As both a creative and a founder, what do you see as the most important priorities for Paloceras in the coming years — design innovation, sustainability, new markets, or something else entirely?
The creation of a micro-factory in Helsinki to prototype in-house and reduce our development cycles from months to days. That’s a key move, ongoing as we speak, set to launch before end of the year.
At the same time, we’re structuring and expanding our distribution network: opening new markets in Asia, Benelux, Switzerland, and Canada which is my home country. Production will stay limited, but access will grow. The goal is to make Paloceras reachable without losing its rarity.
And above all, we will keep bringing renewal through design. We are not here to imitate or optimize, the eyewear world has enough of that. We are here to make the strange visible again, to carve space for objects that feel alive. That is our axis, everything else rotates around it.
8. Who is your target audience, and how would you describe them? Who are the clients that wear your frames — can you share the type of customer you envision when designing?
I don’t think there’s one type, we’ve seen our frames on DJs, classical musicians, stylists, architects, lawyers, drag performers.
I guess what they share is curiosity. They want something that feels considered, a little strange, and deeply personal. I don’t believe I design for a persona, I design (or unveil) the object and the right people find it.
9. Can your frames be used as optical glasses as well, or are they exclusively designed as sunglasses?
Absolutely, but with care. The current Pebble Collection is bold and inflated, which makes RX lens fitting more complex. Many of our optical partners do it successfully, but it requires precision and should be handled by experienced hands.
That said, our second collection, coming before the end of the year, has been designed from the ground up for optical. Same sculptural spirit, but fully RX-ready straight out of the box.
10. Can you share some insights into how many frames you produce and sell annually? How do you manage the balance between limited production and meeting growing demand?
We started with no inventory at all, just a few prototypes and an idea. Now the collection ships worldwide and is carried by partners across the globe. No traditional seasonal models or market expectations. Most of our drops are between 50 and 300 pieces per colour. Some are even smaller. Production remains tightly controlled, nothing is overproduced. Each frame is released in small runs and designed to feel singular. If it’s gone, it might not return.
This approach is constantly refined. Growth happens responsibly and reactively, not just in response to demand, but in harmony with rhythm and intention.
Conclusion: A Future Built on Rarity and Renewal
Paloceras has grown from a fleeting idea in Lausanne into a global name stocked in 50 locations worldwide. Yet its founders resist the pull of mass production, keeping scarcity and intentionality at the heart of their practice. With a micro-factory in Helsinki, expansion into new markets, and optical-ready collections on the horizon, the brand continues to build carefully. Paloceras is not here to replicate or optimize but to create living, sculptural frames that restore a sense of magic to eyewear — making the strange visible again.
