“Glasses have to be made according to certain rules,” Dr. Angelo Micheli reportedly explained when interviewed by La Repubblica after the opening of DIECIDECIMI®.
“Delicate, precise and mandatory rules.
I put all my eggs in the specialization . In my store I don’t claim to sell everything, but I try to do glasses well.”
This was (and still is) the philosophy with which Ottica DIECIDECIMI® was born in the early 1980s.
In fact, the distinctive philosophies of DIECIDECIMI® Optics were two.
The first was about the quality of the product and the professionalism of the service, as indicated by Dr. Micheli.
The other concerned the service model, aesthetics, and emotional aspect, all of which Luciano Falzone, at the time one of Cartier’s Top Managers and founder of Ottica DIECIDECIMI® determined as fundamental and distinctive elements that should characterize the store.
Leveraging expertise gained within such an emotional brand, such as Cartier, Luciano Falzone studied
everything in detail, starting with the name and the sign itself with the idea of recreating a table octotypical, which is so important in identifying the perfect correction for the visual defects of our eyes.
This was followed by the interiors. The idea Luciano Falzone had in mind was directly borrowed from his experience at Cartier: an eyewear boutique.
The store in Piazzale Baracca 8 seemed perfect for location, so he decided to enlist the help of a firm of young architects (L.Carmellini and R. Magnoli of Laboratorio Associati – now Spatium) who analyzed the project down to the smallest detail to realize the boutique idea that had been proposed to them: a place where the customer is at the center, service is personalized, and product selection is made on the basis of precise choices that, starting with quality, are matched with the individual’s form, usability, and style.
The result is Ottica DIECIDECIMI® Glasstylist®, a store that even today, more than forty years later, still retains its unique character which at the time of its opening was also highlighted by the Italian and international press and is still being studied in the present day: starting from the publication of a period article in “Nuovi Negozi a Milano – ed. l’Archivolto” that listed the best stores in Milan, students Sabrina Ferreira Zauli, Maria Elena Laghi, and Beatrice Malatesta of the School of Design of the Milan Polytechnic wanted to study its architectural features, reproducing every detail with the support of modern technologies.
Unfortunately, Luciano Falzone and Angelo Micheli are no longer with us today.
Yet their memories, ideas and philosophies, are more alive than ever, anchored in a store, Optical DIECIDECIMI® Glasstylist®, which now as then believes that eyeglasses should be made according to certain, delicate, precise and unbreakable rules and that a store should not only be aimed at selling, but has to be also a place to feel pampered and listened to, within a pleasant, relaxing and well-maintained environment and, in some ways, unique… with the customer always and consistently at the center.
