In 2012, a year out of Art School, I left my part time job at Lenscrafters Optical to work for a local eyewear boutique. The owner had a manufacturing partner in Los Angeles and was in the process of launching an online eyewear company. Picture this: Instagram is relatively new, American Apparel, Warby Parker & Herschel Supply Co are aesthetically thriving brands and eyewear is an emerging form of expression with young Millennials. I don’t remember how the boss took a chance on me working on creative for JR&Co, but I assumed it was because I belonged to their target demographic. Lucky me… 

What it looked like when I started

The Brief

classic americana ⸰ adventurer ⸰ values craftsmanship ⸰ well traveled ⸰ west coast vibes ⸰ folksy ⸰ explorer ⸰ vintage ⸰ wanderlust ⸰ outdoor hobbies ⸰ works in design ⸰

classic americana ⸰ adventurer ⸰ values craftsmanship ⸰ well traveled ⸰ west coast vibes ⸰ folksy ⸰ explorer ⸰ vintage ⸰ wanderlust ⸰ outdoor hobbies ⸰ works in design ⸰

“John Ruvin is a southern California Company founded on the idea of creating high quality yet affordable prescription eyewear for those with an eye for vintage and an appreciation for craft.”

(my first tagline)

As assistant creative director, it was my job to take the boss’ vision and find the right humans to collaborate with on a shoestring budget. I would search places like Instagram and Pinterest for musicians, bloggers, photographers and craftspeople to showcase and trade for print & product.

This is also where I took night classes to better understand photography, Photoshop and InDesign (I’m still illiterate in Illustrator) so that I could create logos, format eblasts, compile lookbooks and design events posters.


Fresh out of selling prescription eyewear en mass at the mall, I had lots of experience pulling frame styles for different face shapes & sensibilities. Knowing industry standards & trends in lens coatings, style features, shapes, practical usages and (importantly) popularity was something I found continually useful in creative decision-making.

I also held sway in product development deciding frame styles, fit adjustments, lens and frame colorways, frame names, copy and building campaigns to keep everything cohesive to the vision, as seen below.

Grant

The Grant sunglasses are a modified retro P3 shape with exposed hinge rivets, with frame made from Italian acetate and polarized polycarbonate lenses.

They embody the classic cool of mid-century Americana and are perfect for the beach, a barbecue, or cruising down the Pacific coast. Proudly manufactured in California, the Grant is available in four unique color combinations:

amber ombre with G15 lenses
traditional tortoise with brown lenses
coal & diamond with grey lenses
wheatgrass with grey lenses.

My first “creative baby” was ‘John Ruvin Focal Points Project’ as a Tumblr Series (that omg still exists)

We only had budget for 1-2 paid campaigns a year, so aside from me picking up a camera and doing as much as I could in-house, this was a way to keep exciting and varied new content coming in as well as network with incredible photographers around the country, which for me was another level of visual education. I personally sought out many of the photographers featured and in return they got a free pair of glasses and an artist’s favorite… exposure.

Slide for Highlights:

  • Ryan Greaves in Iceland

  • Fairfax Banks in Nashville TN

  • James Lacroix in Toronto, Canada

  • Abbey Moore in Lee Vining, CA

  • Ashley Rodseth in Big Sur, CA

  • Amanda VanVels in Los Angeles, CA

  • Abbey Moore in Lee Vining, CA

  • James Lacroix in Toronto Canada

  • Jacob Lewkow on Kiawah Island, SC

  • Fairfax Banks in Nashville, TN

  • Mae Stier in Maine

  • Ashley Rodseth in Santa Cruz CA

  • Kylie Turley in Montana

  • Abbey Moore in Denver Colorado

  • Jillian Bowes in Malibu, CA

  • Jillian Bowes in Malibu, CA

  • Philip Kingston Eurotripping

  • Abbey Moore in Orlando, FL

  • Abbey Moore in Orlando, FL

  • Ryan Greaves in Iceland

  • Mae Stier in New Zealand

  • Micheal Newsted Crosscountry

  • Micheal Newsted in Los Angeles

F/W 2013 Lookbook

Photographers James Lacroix & Katie Zychowski
Creative Direction by me

As a ‘Southern Cali-based’ brand, we needed to be inventive stylistically here in Michigan. This was the first campaign I ever fully lead, & I knew I needed collaborators who had experience delivering greatness. Since I had never produced a shoot before I needed a team who knew how to make it happen. James and Katie were the best choice. Their demeanor and calm creative energy was inspiring to witness & work with. My first taste at Creative Direction on set got me completely hooked.

Capsule Collections

Between seasonal releases I would look for ways to recycle the offerings we already had by putting together stylized capsules. Using previously developed products I would curate some new features including limited edition lens tints or frame finishes, like wood or rose gold.

My favorite and most complete capsule collection I created was called the ‘Asphalt Collection,’ in 2014 comprising of 4 of our bestselling sunglass shapes with a newly available matte black finish and option for limited edition deep tinted, mirrored & polarized lenses. They looked pretty badass.

We shipped the samples & moodboard (now lost to time) to Photographer Ryan Pavlovich in Los Angeles and he captured these dynamic film shots below. I then used my new-found graphic design skills to cobble together a lookbook including Jack Kerouack quotes (because of course) with hand-drawn frame illustrations by yours truly.

Photography by James Lacroix & Katie Zychowski

Social media Influence

Another area of content I developed was our infuencer exchange program, In Ruvin. It was up to me to search for (at the time so-called) Bloggers of a certain size & style to cross-promote us. Most notable collabs were with Menswear Fashion Illustrator, Sunflowerman & not-yet known Photographer Andy Jackson.

After 2 years & some change I left JR&Co to pursue a more lucrative full time position with Lee&Birch.

My time with the company was a crash course in Product Development, Copyrighting, Brand Identity, Events production, Campaign Production, Marketing Strategy, UX & Graphic Design and a newfound love of photography (seen here).

Fun fact: Here’s our fully-staged staff photo; I (second from left) was the only official employee of JR&Co. My boss thought the optics of a rag-tag group of art kids would look better. Ah, the power of marketing.

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