What we put on our faces needs to be precious. What we put on our faces forms the first image we see of ourselves. It expresses our taste and takes care of our eye health. But why weren’t glasses so fashionable 10 or 15 years ago?
This is the question that Gustavo and Gisela Assis were already asking themselves before creating the Lapima brand in 2017. The couple, passionate about design, beauty, and nature, explored workshops and even scrap yards in search of machinery and partners to produce luxury eyewear in Brazil. It was still a little-explored and (very) expensive market. Despite the challenges, their desire to create high-quality design products prevailed, and today Lapima is one of the Brazilian eyewear brands competing side by side with luxury giants.
“Glasses are a luxury item that showcases your identity. Making well-crafted eyewear is hard work. We spend three hours hand-polishing them—it’s like a work of art, with added value,” explains Gustavo Assis, who is also the brand’s creative director.
The simple name—Lapima—came from a family story. Their eldest son, now 17, used to say “lá pima” instead of “lá em cima” (meaning “up above” in Portuguese). The couple found it charming, saw it as a name that would work in multiple languages, and decided to keep it.
Between international fairs, Gustavo spoke with Fashion Label Brasil to share the brand’s story and the satisfaction of bringing Brazil to the world.
Lapima is now considered a successful Brazilian brand with international reach. You are also the first luxury eyewear brand to achieve this level of exposure in global fashion capitals. How have you experienced this moment?
We currently participate in trade fairs in New York, Paris, and Milan. We present a Brazil that isn’t so cliché, which is enchanting for customers. It’s somewhat unusual for a Brazilian company to produce high-quality eyewear in the luxury market. We are a Brazilian luxury brand, producing in Brazil to compete with international brands. We stand alongside major brands that have 30 years or more of history. We feel that it was worth staying true to our initial beliefs and following what we wanted as the brand’s guiding principle.
What were your initial beliefs when you started the brand, and which of them remain your goals?
The beliefs that we still uphold are respecting the quality of the product and the quality of the creation we envision. We don’t compromise for fleeting trends; instead, we focus on setting trends and being trendsetters. We are also committed to delivering on time. Gisela, our team, and I believe in this. We never stray from our path, and over time, this has proven to be very important.
It’s clear that you value the creative process. How do you structure it? Do you have a specific time or place?
There is always a moment for it—a pause. The location doesn’t matter. It always starts with a freehand sketch, where I assess what looks beautiful and play with shapes. The forms then evolve into products. We have iconic lines, fashion-forward lines, and classic lines. We explore freehand drawing within the theme we choose. For instance, when we were inspired by the sea, we immersed ourselves in everything that represents it—both its turbulence and its calm. That led me to explore the shape of diving masks, researching vintage and contemporary models. This entire process takes about a year.
At this stage of design and inspiration, it is truly a luxury for a brand to fit this into a feasible timeline. I see this as a major challenge for brands. How do you manage it?
From the beginning, we’ve had our own workshop and always worked with an in-house prototyping team. We never had long deadlines—our schedules were always tight because we do three trade fairs a year. But a few collections ago, we started organizing everything in a spreadsheet to work a year and a half in advance. That timeline is just for product development.
How many new models do you launch per collection?
Each collection includes eight new models. Added to our classics, best-sellers, and previous collection models, we now have over 400 SKUs when considering color variations.
When you talk about a Brazil that is not cliché, what comes to mind?
I think of architectural beauty, the beauty of our nature, our forests, our sea, and our people. We’ve talked about Brazil’s central region and our savannah. It’s great that people know Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo—I love Brazilian clichés. But we also want to showcase other aspects, like the Serra do Mar mountain range and central Brazil. We’ve drawn inspiration from the sail of a Ceará fisherman’s raft and the diving mask used in Ilha Grande. We seek out these details. It’s a way to share things that people don’t know about.
Do you travel a lot around Brazil?
What is your educational background?
I graduated in Business Administration, but I always dreamed of studying Architecture. I used to visit my parents’ architect friends and draw with their pens. Creating Lapima became my version of architecture. Business administration is important for understanding numbers, financial management, and making sure everything adds up. I never studied design, but I love houses and architecture. Creativity develops over time and through the environment you live in.
How did the brand come to be?
At first, we thought about creating a product design company, and our first product idea was sunglasses. But we couldn’t find a manufacturer that produced high-quality eyewear in Brazil. We almost gave up. Then, we hired an engineer who suggested we buy our own machinery. We purchased an old machine from a scrap yard in Campinas. We sourced lenses from France and other parts from Germany. That’s when we realized we were competing in the international market because the costs kept rising. That was seven years ago, and since then, the company has evolved. Our first showroom, supported by ABEST, was in 2017. The beginning was extremely tough. But in 2021, we started gaining momentum and growing—that was our turning point. Today, we export ready-to-wear sunglasses and optical frames with demonstration lenses.
Do you often travel around Brazil? I assume you need to see the Brazil you want to showcase.
Yes, all the time. Lately, we’ve been to Ceará, Goiás, and Rio de Janeiro—specifically Paraty and Angra dos Reis. In São Paulo, we visit the Serra do Mar in Ubatuba. The places we choose have to be charming and give us a sense of peace.
Eyewear has become increasingly fashionable. It’s an accessory that is drawing a lot of consumer attention. What do you think is driving this trend?
Actually, I’ve always wondered the opposite: why weren’t glasses considered important if they’re the first thing you notice on a person? I never understood why an essential health item, which must be of high quality, was never valued. I asked myself this because, during my grandparents’ time, glasses were a luxury—they were made from tortoiseshell. Then, at some point, they became commoditized. What we are doing now is bringing back their value. There has also been a movement among major brands to reintroduce this appreciation. Today, we see an independent market taking over this space.
By Juliana Lopes – Fashion Journalist & Consultant @j.u.lopes
