polette continues to rewrite the rulebook and unveils a spectacular showroom in its Paris location, at 91 rue de Rivoli. The work was conveyed by the brand’s team in collaboration with Javier Zubiria, founder of the Amsterdam-based architectural firm zU-studio. 

polette, the online optician, is carrying on with its wild ride into 2022. The Amsterdam-based company, co-founded by Pauline Cousseau and Pierre Wizman, has decided to completely reinvent their connected showroom in Paris, to offer its visitors a change of perspective and dimension. polette teamed up with zU-studio, with the ambition to break the rules of the optical world and to offer a true artistic experience around the notion of “world upside down”, with a reference to the Parisian architectural heritage. Architect Javier Zubiria explains: “While observing what polette has done over the past years, one thing became really clear to me: polette turns the world upside down. With such a distinctive purpose, I wanted to retrieve my inspiration from an iconic piece of the Parisian landscape that people can relate to, and flip it upside down”. He worked on the inverted pyramid, while sticking close to the Aristotelian concept of Eudaimonía – which in ancient Greek means “bliss”. The purpose is to create places and habitats that bring happiness to those who experience it.

Together, polette and Javier Zubiria have chosen a minimalist and sober decor with clean, contemporary and industrial lines. It was done so to highlight polette’s eyewear and to affirm the brand’s identity. This space was not conceived as a simple boutique or an art gallery: it was thought to be a library, in order to encourage visitors to focus on the object and look even further.

Through an avant-garde construction and a symmetrical, yet delicate, structure, around which visitors can wander and contemplate each other, they wanted to pay tribute to one of the most emblematic monument of the French capital. It is also a way to show an “upside down” world where everything is possible, in an era challenging to always go faster and further.

Polette and the architect also gave great importance to the abolishment of the boundary between exterior and interior by creating a huge window, designed to be seen by all and from afar. It is also a way to offer a little bit of polette to each passer-by without expecting anything in return but to make people think, dream and look at the world from a new angle.

Showroom polette 91, Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris

Design: polette Design team & zU-studio architecture

Who is polette?

Internet girl, polette is original and creative at heart. She is free to make her own choices, has a strong personality and is always looking towards the future. For the past ten years, the independent brand has been working to revolutionize the eyewear industry and make it accessible to all, by offering products starting at 15€ and adapted to each eyesight, without

cutting back on quality. For this, polette develops everything from A to Z. Beginning with frames, over accessories through lenses, everything is designed and produced by the company. From the design of each steel or acetate shape, to the surfacing of each corrective lens; from the production of its eco-responsible packaging, to the shipment of packages that arrive directly in the customers’ mailbox. Everything is done in-house.

What are connected showrooms?

Pioneer in the field, polette decided to go even further by offering a different shopping experience to its customers with the connected showrooms. In these revolutionary digital showrooms, you don’t actually come to buy glasses but solely try them on. A little extra? Professional opticians offer free advice and eye tests on the spot. Once the model is chosen, simply scan its QR code. The visitor is hereby redirected to the pair that caught his eye on the website. All they now have to do is add their prescription to order their glasses. It will be sent directly to their home, within two weeks.