BESPOKE EYEWEAR MADE FROM ONE OF THE OLDEST FOUND METEORITES ON EARTH, BY HAUTE OCULENCE DESIGNER ANNE VANAKEN

Introducing the world’s first eyewear integrated with a 4.6 billion year old meteorite!

This bespoke frame was made for Haute-Joallierie designer Jochen Leen, where his fascination of space and passion for Niche gemstones are intertwined. A super lightweight frame constructed from aerospace grade aluminium and 18 top grade Diamonds, holding the 0,4mm thin plate of meteorite on it’s place.
The Widmanstätten pattern and color makes this frame ‘infused with history, a true piece of art that transcends time.

The meteorite, with an impressive age of 4.56 billion years, symbolically reflects the time span of the sun’s existence. This extraordinary collaboration combines the oldest materials in our solar system with handcrafted leather and contemporary footwear, creating a fascinating harmony between art and science.

Muonionalusta, a meteorite discovered a century ago and named after its origin in Sweden, captivates with its distinctive features. Notably recognized for its unmistakable appearance, it bears the unique Widmanstätten pattern—a testament to its genesis during a leisurely cooling process in the vast expanse of our solar system. This celestial wanderer is believed to share an age with our sun, rendering it one of the most ancient materials ever unearthed on Earth that is not of terrestrial origin. This is a piece of history, a fragment of the cosmos that defies the boundaries of earthly existence.

A Muonionalusta Meteorite belongs to the group of iron meteorites in the category of Octahedrite - type IVA. (This is a class within iron meteorites and they are classified based on their structure). It was first discovered in Northern Scandinavia in Kitkiojoki, Sweden in 1906, but is believed to have crashed one million years ago, making it the oldest meteorite ever found on Earth. The name Muonionalusta originates from the discovery site Muonionalusta, a combination of "Muonio" and "Alusta," Finnish for "possessive particle" and "a place below."

The unique pattern in the meteorite, known as Widmanstätten, is formed by the extremely slow cooling of the inner part of the meteorite. One million years ago, the meteorite reached Earth, entering the atmosphere at an enormous speed and experiencing intense pressure due to friction, causing it to predominantly burn with an external temperature of around 6000°C. This temperature was encountered by the meteorite only once before, during the formation of our solar system, where it cooled extremely slowly. The cooling process occurred at a rate of 1 degree Celsius per hundred thousand years! The combination of cooling, the percentage of nickel and iron, and the complex process/speed of crystal growth resulted in this intriguing crisscross pattern inside the object.