carbon fibre
fibreglass
Danish design
handmade in Denmark
www.blac.dk
[All the important stuff about Blac ]
Blac - the Nerd
Knowledge
[the telling points...]
Blac - the fabulous story
Blac - the fabulous story
Blac is a novel, innovative eyewear brand. Revolutionary designer eyewear for men
made from carbon fibre and fibreglass reinforced with titanium. Blac is the world’s
first adjustable carbon fibre frame. Designed and handmade exclusively in Denmark
by renowned designer eyewear company BELLINGER A/S.
The fabulous story of Blac begins with designer Claus Bellinger and his fascination of McLaren’s carbon-composite MP4-1 body, which rocked the Formula 1 world at Silverstone in 1981.
The MP4-1 was the first all composite Formula 1 body, designed as a moulding, rather than
the traditional series of flat aluminum panels mechanically fixed together. The reward for
challenging conventional thinking was a gigantic leap in strength and sturdiness that would
revolutionize racing car design.
The characteristics of the carbon fibre and fibreglass composite are its unique woven surface,
an unusual lightness combined with great strength. Carbon fibre and fibreglass are used in
products where lightness and strength are determining factors: Airplanes, F1 racecars, motorcycles, boats, knee joints, surfboards, wind turbines, as well as in space travel industry, Ray
and Charles Eames’ Fiberglass Chair (1948) and in Verner Panton’s Chair Classic (1960).
Masculinity, strength and lightness
Claus Bellinger built a team of designers, technical engineers and inventors. Together they created a vision: The new eyewear brand should be masculine, light, strong and feature new and
innovative designs. The breakthrough to use composite materials for eyewear frames came
from a design team members’ fascination of Matra Murena; a French three seated fibreglass
sports car produced from 1980-83.
Carbon fibre - an industry-first
Years in the making, the development of Blac is that of a true pioneering marathon. Never
before have composite materials been applied in eyewear productions so hands-on experience
was gained from teaming up with an expert in carbon fibre knee joints and athletics sprint
prostheses. A hard-earned, labour-intensive, voyage of exploration through trial and error
land that has resulted in cutting edge carbon fibre manufacturing know-how.
Every Blac frame is unique…
Blac is handmade in Denmark by our own specialized production team located in Århus, Denmark. A patent pending, and thus top secret, novel production process allows for each Blac
frame to get special attention and craftsmanship, ensuring a unique design of each frame. All
frames are custom made by hand for each individual customer with hinges, screws and end
tips tailored for our Blac frames.
All carbon fibre and fibreglass frames in the Blac line are manufactured using the raw material
directly in the process. No lacquer is attached providing each frame with a unique raw surface
of the woven carbon fibre and fibreglass fabric.
[the story of...]
Blac - the stormriders
Blac - the stormriders...
The design of the Blac collections are inspired by the surf world, the shapes and materials
of surfboards and the designs that are used in this environment. So it was natural to choose
names that evolved around surfing. The name Stormriders is the over all description of the
Blac collections. Stormriders is also the title of a surf book describing all surf spots around
the world. We chose the best, most famous, wildest surf spots/breaks as names of the frames.
Bunkers is one of the best breaks to surf in Denmark, Cavaliers and La Piste are both four
star breaks in France and attracks the Pro Surf Tour, as well as Lunada Bay, California...
Check out the full range of Blac frames at www.blac.dk
Cavaliers [France]
Bunkers [Denmark]
Waikokos [Hawaii]
Hanelei [Hawaii]
[the story of...]
Blac Titanium
Blac Titanium – pushing the envelope
Blac Titanium – a brand new eyewear line in the Blac family. Blac Titanium is revolutionary eyewear for men, with a sleek Beta Titanium front and carbon fibre and
fibreglass temples reinforced with titanium.
Our goal with Blac Titanium is to design a unique frame that combines the streamlined minimalistic titanium look with the super cool fibre surface of the temples. The
Blac Titanium collection is inspired by racecars, racetracks and motorsports icons
such as Steve McQueen & Burt Reynolds. Named after motorsports terms and locations, the Blac Titanium models carry names such as “Parabolica” which is one of the
best curves at Italy’s Monza racetrack as well as at Hockenheim in Germany.
With Blac Titanium we have once again pushed the limits of what is technically possible in order to achieve our design goals - and gotten the most optimal front to our
carbon fibre temples: the world’s first beta titanium front with a thickness variation
to obtain perfect front flex and endpiece strength.
Check out the full range of Blac frames at www.blac.dk
…and so the fabulous story continues…
[mounting guide]
Blac - the technical guide
Blac - the technical guide
Blac & Blac Titanium
[The Technical guide]
The Blac how To guide [mounting]
1] how to mount the lens in the Blac &
Blac Titanium frames
Blac The imPoRTanT sTUFF
1] Blac is truly handmade in Denmark
2] how to adjust Blac & Blac Titanium temples
2] Designed by BeLLinGeR - the best in Danish design!
3] how to adjust hockey ends
3] Blac is the world’s first adjustable carbon fibre frame
4] how to adjust nosepad arms
4] Blac frames weigh half of regular frames
5] Carbon fibre is super strong and extremely light
6] all Blac frames are non allergenic
7] Carbon fibre is a woven fabric which gives Blac its
unique texture
8] every Blac frame is unique
The Blac RecommendaTions [lenses]
1] Loosen one screw on the fro
Now you can easily
ntpiece
mount the lens
1] all lenses should be in 1.6 or 1.67 material
2] The recommended base curve for Blac is 4.0
6.0 for Blac Titanium.
3] always cut the lens to exact size with a plus-tolerance
4] Minimal lens-edge thickness: 2.4 mm.
5] Groove-measures: 0.5 mm. deep and 0.8 mm wide.
For easy mounting - trim/round the groove edges
6] For Blac frames with straight upper-rims:
cut the lens 0.1 mm. larger; groove-measure 0.6 mm.
deep and 0.8 mm. wide
7] Take note of the frame curvature angel
2]
in/out by hand
Adjust the temple
degrees
...no more than 45
The Blac please do noT guide!
1] do noT heat the Blac frames at any time. carbon or
fiberglass will not be adjusted by heating. Heavy
heating will damage the material.
3] Adjust the hockey ends by hand
2] do noT use any type of loctite or anaerobic
adhesives/Sealants on the hinges/screws because it
will damage them!
3] do noT use tools with a metal surface directly
against the carbon fibre or fibreglass material. When
adjusting the temples this can easily be done by hand.
4] do noT try to adjust the carbon fibre front in any
way. The frame might break! (no problem for titanium)
5] Be careful using chemicals. acetone will damage the
surface of both carbon fibre and fibreglass.
4] Adjust the nosepad arms
by hand
[important stuff]
Blac - the selling points
Every Blac frame is unique...
Blac is handmade in Denmark by our own specialized production team located in
Århus, Denmark. A patent pending, and thus top secret, novel production process allows for each Blac frame to get special attention and craftsmanship, ensuring a unique
design of each frame. All frames are custom made by hand for each individual customer with hinges, screws and end tips tailored for our Blac frames.
All carbon fibre and fibreglass frames in the Blac line are manufactured using the raw
material directly in the process. No lacquer is attached providing each frame with a
unique raw surface of the woven carbon fibre and fibreglass fabric.
Blac - the selling points
1] Blac is truly handmade in Denmark
2] Every Blac frame is unique!
3] Blac is designed by BELLINGER, the best in Danish design
4] Blac is the world’s first adjustable carbon fibre frame
5] Blac frames weigh half of regular frames
6] Carbon fibre is super strong and extremely light
7] All Blac frames are NON allergenic
8] Carbon fibre is a woven fabric which gives Blac its unique texture
9] Each frame consist of 4 layers - minimum 2 layers of carbon fibre
[carbon fibre facts...]
Blac - the facts
Blac - the facts
Lenses:
Recommended material for lenses is ONLY 1.6 or 1.67 material
Blac lenses are made in base curve 4.0 - Blac Titanium in base curve 6.0
Groove size: 0.5 mm. deep & 0.8 mm. wide
Minimal lens edge thickness: 2.4 mm.
Inclination: 11%
Weight:
From 7.5 g. (without lenses!)
Production:
Production is handled 100% in Århus, Denmark.
Each frame is made of four layers of composite material with cross-layered woven carbon fibre
material for optimized strength. The two middle layers are always carbon fibre material because this is slightly stronger than fibreglass.
Blac is the output of craftsmanship and is predominantly handmade.
All spare parts are custom made for Blac.
[Super nerd knowledge...]
Blac - the facts
Background knowledge on carbon fibre #1
Carbon fibre (alternatively; graphite fibre, carbon graphite or carbon fibre reinforced plastic - CFRP
for short) is a high-performance organic fibre known since the late 1950s. It is a composite material
consisting of extremely thin fibres about 8 µm (0.005–0.010 mm) in diameter composed mostly of
carbon atoms. The crystal alignment of carbon atoms makes the composite extremely strong for its
size.
Made by controlled pyrolysis and orientation of polyacrylonitrile, thousands of carbon fibres are spun
together to form a yarn, which may be used as is or woven into a fabric.
Carbon fibre has many different weave patterns and can be combined with an epoxy or polymeric resin (plastic) and wound or molded to form composite materials such as carbon fibre reinforced plastic
to provide a higher strength-to-weight ratio than metals. The density of carbon fibre is considerably
lower than that of steel and with a maximum tensile modulus of 520 GNm-2 (over 2.5 times that of
steel) and a specific gravity of 1.96 its specific modulus is almost 10 times that of the best steel wire,
making it ideal for applications requiring low weight.
Carbon fibre properties such as high tensile strength, low weight, and low thermal expansion make
the composite material very popular in aerospace, civil engineering, military, and motorsports along
with other competition sports.
Background knowledge on carbon fibre #2
Carbon fibre is a super strong material. At the same time it’s also extremely lightweight. Engineers
and designers love it because it’s five times as strong as steel, twice as stiff, yet weighs about twothirds less.
Carbon fibre is basically ultra thin strands of carbon - even thinner than human hair.
The strands can be twisted together, like yarn. The yarns can be woven together, like cloth. To make
carbon fibre take on a permanent shape, it can be laid over a mold, then coated with a stiff resin or
plastic (kind of like how you would make something out of papier-mâché by putting newspaper strips
over a mold, then adding paste to force it to hold the shape).
Car manufacturing
Most car components are made of steel. Replacing steel components with carbon fibre would reduce
the weight of most cars by 60 percent. That 60 percent drop in weight would, in turn, reduce the car’s
fuel consumption by 30 percent and cut greenhouse gas and other emissions by 10 to 20 percent.
That’s a huge fuel savings, even without changing the car’s engine. With a lighter carbon fibre body,
car makers could build cars with smaller, more efficient engines, or increase the use of electric engines, resulting in even more fuel savings.
[Super nerd knowledge...]
Blac - the facts
Background knowledge on carbon fibre #2
[continued...]
Ten years ago, carbon fibre cost $150 a pound. Now, the price is around $10 a pound. Steel, on the
other hand, costs less than a dollar per pound. Many analysts say that for carbon fibre to make it into
widespread use in cars, the price will have to drop to about $5 per pound. Cost is the main hurdle
carbon fibre will have to overcome before it can provide a viable energy solution.
The challenges of carbon fibre
Only a few cars available at your local dealer use carbon fibre. The BMW M6 has some carbon fibre
panels on its body, as does the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and the Ford GT. The Audi R8 also includes
some carbon fibre. What do all these cars have in common? They cost a lot of money! It’s rare to see a
car with carbon fibre because it’s expensive!
Lifecycle & recycling
Both carbon and fibre glass is categorized as a sustainable and easy to maintain with a long durability.
But when for example a car breaks down, its steel can be melted and used to construct another car
(or building, or anything else made of steel). Carbon fibre can’t be melted down, and it’s not easy to
recycle. When it is recycled, the recycled carbon fibre isn’t as strong as it was before recycling. Carbon
fibre recycled from a car isn’t strong enough to be used in building another car.
What is fibreglass?
Fibreglass, (also called glass fibre), is material made from extremely fine fibres of glass.
What is commonly known as “fibreglass” today, however, was invented in 1938 by Russell Games
Slayter of Owens-Corning as a material to be used as insulation. It is marketed under the trade name
Fiberglass, which soon became a generic term. A somewhat similar, but more expensive technology
used for applications requiring very high strength and low weight is the use of carbon fibre.
Uses for regular fibreglass include mats, thermal insulation, electrical insulation, reinforcement of
various materials, tent poles, sound absorption, heat- and corrosion-resistant fabrics, high-strength
fabrics, arrows, bows and crossbows, translucent roofing panels, automobile bodies, electrical insulation and boat hulls.
Sources:
Kanellos, Mike. “Here Comes the Everyday Carbon Fiber Car” CNET.
Motavalli, Jim. “How Efficient Can Internal Combustion Get?”
Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “Carbon Fiber Cars Could Put U.S. On Road to Efficiency.”
Smock, Doug. “Magnesium, Aluminum will Play Big Role in Auto Weight Reduction.” Design News.
Woodyard, Chris. “Carbon Fiber Sparkles with Diamond Like Appeal.” USA Today.
Zoltek. “Letter from the CEO.”
Larousse Dictionary of Science and Technology
[Nerd knowledge...]
Blac - the facts
Other fabulous carbon fibre designs...
The material of the future...
Carbon fibre, carbon for short, is the current star among high-performance materials. This industrial
material, which we frequently encounter combined with something else, for example plastic, to make
it stronger, has the appeal of technical lightness and panache like, a good century ago, the silvery gray
lightweight metal aluminum. Just as the latter, with its minimal weight and malleability, became the
ultimate material of technical progress and ultimately, from household appliances to the Dymaxion
house, symbolized Modernism that had been spurred on almost ecstatically, it is now carbon that
embodies all the attributes of the future and speed. It is treated as a “Formula 1 material”. The body of
the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is almost all carbon. The body of the Porsche Carrera GT is made of
this innovative material of the future, as is the streamlined roof of the BMW M3 Series.
Lightness and stability...
Carbon materials primarily unite two properties. They are sensationally light and unimaginably
stable. This makes them the perfect material for automobile construction and space and air travel,
as well as for motorbike helmets, tennis rackets, speed skates, racing sails and bicycle frames, which
you could lift up with your little finger. In product design, carbon, with its uncanny abilities, is only
at the beginning of a brilliant career, although the material is essentially still too expensive for larger
quantities and it seems its sustainable disposal has not yet been fully clarified either. The first product
innovations made of carbon fibres are already on the market however, and their number is set to grow
soon.
Tables and racing cars...
John Barnard and Terence Woodgate have ingeniously formed the qualities of this industrial material
with their beautiful table Surface Table. Barnard is already well known as an industrial designer,
while Woodgate has made a name for himself as a developer and designer of Formula 1 racing cars.
Together, they seem an ideal combination to design an everyday object using high-tech materials.
Their design for the English company Established & Sons was presented at this year’s Milan Furniture
Fair. The carbon table is three meters long and its form cuts a weightless line of sight in the space. The
tabletop is just two millimeters thick and is thus, so the designers say, about five times thinner than
similar-sized table constructions. Nonetheless the table, which is only produced on order, seems anything but fragile and delicate. The high-tech tabletop is available in “walnut veneer” or, even better,
“unidirectional carbon fibre finish”.
[Nerd knowledge...]
Blac - the facts
Other fabulous carbon fibre designs...
[Planes, Porsches, BMWs, Racing Cars,
Space Rockets, Rackets, Speed Skates, Bicycles, Chairs, Tables...and now ...Supercool Eyewear...]
The unique material...
With its trailblazing image, carbon has already generated an aesthetic quality all of its own. Admirers
want the carbon surface visible with its characteristic, meshed web structure and not painted over,
covered up and treated. We recall the “DAR” (Dining Armchair Rod) by Charles and Ray Eames,
made of fibreglass-reinforced polyester. In this product design icon, which is a real heavyweight compared to a carbon chair, the formal innovation was accompanied back then by the fibreglass material
left bare and “natural”, so to speak, a daring industrial aura, which seemed virtually revolutionary
surrounded by familiar materials such as wood and steel tubing. Today, when anything is actually
possible and as such nothing is remarkable anymore, it is carbon that is succeeding in making an aesthetic transfer such as this once again.
High-tech chairs and chaise-longues...
The two designers Bertjan Pot and Marcel Wanders were probably also thinking of the “DAR” when
designing their chair. The “Carbon Chair” designed for the Dutch company Moooi, Marcel Wanders’
own brand, with its base and the ergonomic seat, almost seems like a tribute to Charles Eames’ fibreglass chair of 1948. Here, however, the material is not shaped with futuristic high-tech panache, but
rather as a break with the expected. The seat is plaited so wildly using carbon fibres, as thin as wool, as
though this artfully chaotic web technique transports the basket-like objects of Egon Eiermann
into the next Modern age. The designers were interested in combining high-tech and skilled craftwork, so they say. And aesthetically, they succeeded superbly. When we look at its dull non-color, the
matt jet black of the chair reminds us of good old wood charcoal.
Carbon, still courted at present like a rare diamond among industrial materials, inspired designer
Konstantin Grcic to produce a “Limited Edition”. The edition of his chaise-longue, called “Karbon”, is
limited to 12, plus two prototypes. This graceful design, represented by the Parisian Galerie Kreo, also
brings the advantages of the material into an extraordinarily dynamic form. The hammock-like
couch curves as softly as an engine hood and is so gracefully angular it looks as though it was drawn in
the space like a line drawing as someone walked by. Even now these first “avant-garde” objects reveal
the creative innovations carbon can inspire, and what this material can make possible in product design in terms of novel forms and constructions. We can look forward to the next spectacular designs.
The potential, at least, is already in the start boxes.