By Shan Khan, R.O.
Canadian designers continue to prove that some of the most exciting ideas in eyewear are happening close to home. Clara Faniel and Douglas Gaudet represent two different but equally compelling examples of the creativity, craftsmanship, and fresh perspective moving Canadian eyewear forward.
Canada has produced some incredible frame designers, yet we sometimes overlook just how much talent we have right here at home. While larger international fashion houses often dominate the conversation, Canadian eyewear has developed its own identity by combining creativity, functionality, authenticity, and a strong understanding of the practical needs of optical patients.
Many ECPs are already familiar with Canadian names such as FYSH, KLiiK, Faniel Eyewear, Spectacle Eyeworks, and Mel Rapp — designers and collections that have built loyal followings by bringing personality and individuality to eyewear. Clara Faniel and Douglas Gaudet continue that proud Canadian story in very different ways.
Clara Faniel: A Personal Approach to Creativity
A Personal Approach to Creativity
One designer from the next generation of Canadian eyewear creators who recently caught my attention is Clara Faniel and her Océana collection.
What stands out about Clara’s approach is how natural and personal her creative process feels. While trends play a role, her inspiration begins with her own tastes and with elements found in nature. “I draw mainly from my own tastes, personal inspirations, and different elements of nature,” Clara explains. “Natural shapes, colours, textures, and the moods found in nature often serve as starting points in my creative process.”
Her philosophy is simple: if she can imagine herself wearing a frame, there is a good chance others may connect with it as well. Today, eyewear is no longer simply about vision correction. Patients wear their frames all day, every day, and frames have become an extension of personality, lifestyle, and self-expression.
Materials, Fit and Wearability
Material choice plays a major role in Clara’s designs. She enjoys acetate when creating stronger statement pieces with more presence and character. “I really enjoy working with acetate, especially when I want to create frames with a strong presence, greater thickness, and more pronounced shapes,” she says.
For more lightweight and refined designs, she often works with stainless steel because of its durability and comfort. Clara also pays close attention to proportion and facial harmony, looking for balance between the frame, the face, and the desired style.
Family Insight and Canadian Craft
Family involvement is another important part of Clara’s process. Her mother, Anne-Marie Faniel, creator of Faniel Eyewear, helps guide dimensions, proportions, and shape development. Her father, Patrick Bolduc, an optician, contributes a practical perspective, helping ensure the designs work well in real optical environments.
As a licensed optician and now owner of her first Faniel eyewear boutique in Switzerland, Clara places strong importance on quality, durability, comfort, and eco-responsibility. “With access to recycled acetates from our manufacturing in Quebec, I am especially proud to be able to offer, among other things, handmade frames created here in Canada,” Clara says. That balance between creativity, colour, fit, and wearability helps define the Océana collection, and reinforces the strength of a new generation of proudly Canadian eyewear design.
Douglas Gaudet: Reframing Passion Through Craftsmanship
A Second Act Rooted in Optical Experience
Douglas Gaudet’s story shows another side of Canadian eyewear design: creativity shaped by decades of optical experience, curiosity, and hands-on craft. “I started in the industry as a pure fluke,” Douglas recalls, after answering a help wanted ad for a “lens grinder” at American Optical in the basement of the Lord Nelson Hotel in Halifax more than 50 years ago.
One opportunity led to another: time in the lab, becoming a licensed optician, fitting contact lenses, years of dispensing, and eventually building an independent practice. Together with his wife Debra, Douglas built and operated Gaudet Optical for nearly four decades. “I learned something every single day,” he says. Four and a half years ago, Douglas and Debra sold the practice and building to independent optician Heather Clarke, passing the torch to the next generation. For Douglas, it opened a new creative chapter. “Since then, the fun has really begun,” he says.
Handmade Frames and Creative Independence
With more time available, Douglas returned to something he had dabbled in for years: designing and making eyeglass frames by hand. Through a series of fortunate encounters, he met John Barr in rural PEI, whom he describes as “an absolute genius regarding frame making.” Barr mentored him in tool selection, work methodology, old-world craftsmanship, and the satisfaction of making a project completely by hand.
Douglas has created about 175 pieces so far, many of which have sold. But selling was never the original goal. “I just wanted to create something unusual, unique, and in a different way than what is often called ‘hand made,’ and just enjoy the pleasure that brings,” he says.
Materials, Inspiration and Canadian Collaboration
Douglas works primarily with cellulose acetate sourced from Italy and China. “It’s Christmas Morning to get a shipment delivered,” he says. The hidden layers of colour in acetate can be emphasized or muted depending on how the material is cut, revealing what Douglas calls “the treasures inside.” He also uses titanium, stainless steel, and aluminum, often for temple or detail work. His inspiration has come from unconventional eyewear brands including Kuboraum, Niloca, Rigards, and Factory 900; collections that showed him eyewear could be creative, unusual, and even art.
Today, through his new company, Beech Street Eyeworks and Accessories, Douglas’s work has expanded into collaboration with long-time Canadian eyewear icon Mehran Baghaie and Spectacle Eyeworks. For Douglas, this new venture is about continuing to learn, create, and contribute to the Canadian eyewear story with plenty of room for originality.
Together, the stories of Clara Faniel and Douglas Gaudet remind us that Canadian eyewear design is not defined by one generation, one material, or one approach. It is shaped by family knowledge, optical experience, artistic curiosity, independent thinking, and pride in making something meaningful close to home. Clara and Douglas show that Canadian eyewear continues to have a voice of its own: authentic, creative, functional, and proudly ours.
About the Author:
Shan Khan, R.O.
Shan Khan, is an optician and educator passionate about advancing eye care and eyewear awareness in Canada. As Editor-in-Chief of Optik Magazine, she brings a keen industry perspective and a commitment to spotlighting innovation, style, and professionalism across the optical landscape.
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