#WelcomeToSunCountry and to luxury’s newest wave, Meta-Luxury. The term “luxury” while once surrounded in prestige and utilized by only a number of selected brands, has, over time, diluted in meaning. What once defined luxury brands, exclusivity, price, quality and availability are now recognized as being too subjective and can often blur the line around what’s considered premium.

The book I’m currently reading, “Luxury Brands and Culture of Excellence” describes Meta-Luxury as being “luxury beyond luxury,” founded on the principles of knowledge, purpose and timelessness. What really sets the two types of luxury’s apart is the concept of unique achievement. The idea that a brand has sought out, with intent and purpose to achieve something truly remarkable. And, it’s only due to the brand’s expertise and knowledge that they are able to achieve something so unique it surpasses time constraints and is remembered in history.

While following these principles and utilizing the pillars of Meta-Luxury as a foundation to the brand, we at Tejesta come to stand for unsurpassed excellence. We embrace change while staying relevant in a fast-paced world. Ultimately, we are escaping short-term compromise to ensure prosperity across generations as we continue to create sculptural designs that speak to a clientele with discerning taste. 

As we continue to focus on these methodologies and push the boundaries on our manufacturing capabilities, Tejesta will grow through both uncompromising commitment to excellence and limitation. We will make decisions around extension and expansion, based on the long-term protection of our brand and business. This is in sharp contrast to many brands that have fallen by chasing the immediate gratification of fast profits at the expense of sustainable growth, leading to brand dilution and value erosion in the long term. Through guiding principles we will ultimately limit decisions around where Tejesta should and shouldn’t go, and yet, that very integrity is the long-term economic engine. In 2011, Patrick Thomas made a compelling and cautionary statement: “If you tell me I have to double the profit of Hermès, I will do it tomorrow. But then you’d have no Hermès left in five years.” Five years later, the words could not have been more prophetic for a brand committed to excellence.

Love,

J

First and foremost I’d like to shout out every single person who supported us at our first party, “TENNANTS ONLY” hosted at Baby Jane. WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH and can’t wait to host you at our next round up! We will always have something new for you but the tunes will remain, ALL THE HITS from the past and present from yours truly, Igor & Kev 😉

To keep #SwimWeek going we partnered with Jaleca & Krewe Du Q, two up-coming Miami brands, to host SWIM GOOD. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to DJ but Dave Grutman & Pharell sure know how to keep Bar Bevy rockin’ while we showcased a new style dropping VERY VERY soon, the J.P.G. A soft oval silhouette with INSANE detail. Pooch & I constructed a custom eye wire that is unique to the eyewear industry consisting of a 4MM to 2MM split in depth finished with Art-Deco linear filigree.

Everything goin’ on right now feels so synchronized and to our plan. It’s not something I can quite explain, but when we started Tejesta, the goal was not to create an eyewear brand from Miami. The goal was to produce pieces of art in limited quantities at an affordable price defining the a new meaning of luxury, Meta-Luxury. Meta-Luxury is the economic reflection of a culture of excellence. Meta-luxury brands embody the human quest for unique achievements that can stand the test of time, enduring and evolving from one generation to the next. These brands challenge the boundaries of knowledge, transform history into the future and sustain excellence into eternity. This is something I learned from my mentor and i'll never forget it. When you create an emotional experience between product and end consumer, it drives action and immediately connects the consumer & product creating a culture of excellence.

THIS IS TEJESTA.

Love always

J

As I was laying in the grass of a garden filled with an illogical amount of beauty & textures I soon came to realize that I was laying in a bed of beauty. As the wind would brush down my face so too did the airplanes in the sky flying at an uncanny level serving a constant reminder that in 3 hours, i’ll be on one of those to the farmland.

Im going to continue with this moment of myself laying in the garden as it was a moment that I’ll always remember, a moment so clear, a moment where I understood so much.

It was my first time in Amsterdam, a place that so clearly depicted the true essence of the real me, a Swedish Viking. How I connected with the city in such a deep level at that moment was so impactful, that it will remain with me forever and fuel the inspiration for future creations.

We can step outside that moment for now. Lol

If you’ve ever been to Amsterdam one can’t help but notice the royal and regal architecture down to the very last details expressing some sort of creativity. To study these walls, these clocks, these moldings and these doorways, was all I needed for it all to click. For it all to just make sense in a way that I’ve wanted it to ever since I started to design&create.

Every designer wants to find their own style that they can keep as their signature, something for the public to recognize and match it with a figure is truly powerful to me. As most who personally know me, Native Americans & The Wild Wild West is what I’m all about. Miami Art Deco is where I was born and what was missing was this Scandinavian side to me that is all of me. I was missing that Scandinavian touch within my work. For 18 years I spent 3 months every summer in the farmlands of Lidkopping, Sweden packing our bags and food to jump on our row boat that sometimes broke down so we had to row like the old times to our house on an island about 150 nice strong rows away from the dock. Of course it was an inspiring place but the decor was not fitting for me, the scenery was what got me.
Amsterdam somehow showed me that light, as much as it is part of Holland, it has a BIG Scandinavian feel. A HUGE SWEDISH feel. Made me feel like I was there, at my summer house.

Ive always remember this feeling that I always try to replicate and that is the feeling I had at my summer house, at my farm house. I got that feeling recently in the country side of Great Britain and I get that feeling every time I’m somewhere remote.

As much as I am a believer in getting society back into the forest and back into the wilderness, I have not yet been successful at managing and dedicating time personally to being remote every year. A consistent period of 30 or 60 days. Also, how can we continue to do the same things we do in the office but replicate that in the forest? Sounds crazy but when picturing this I picture Jay and Ye in Paris, N***** In Paris. Why can’t we be

In the forest instead of Paris?

Love
J

Have you ever seen that cologne bottle shaped as a mans body? It’s teal and comes in a silver soup can packaging. I grew up in Sweden smelling this scent on my grandfather all the time. The Jean Paul Gaultier “ULTRA MAN.” Fuck, everything about the cologne was unique and different in design. Jean Paul Gaultier (JPG) was born in Paris and had no training in the world of fashion/design. His step-mom introduced to him how the cut and sew process worked. With no formal training in the field, the guy was creating street wear collections in the mid 70’s focusing on popular culture, relevant culture, and hype culture. I believe a lot of his success comes from the emotional feelings he created in everyone viewing his designs. Something like Alexander McQueen. When you make someone feel a certain way, they’ll never forget it.

I love to hear someone look at my work for that very reason. My biggest mission is to create a poetic story board behind everything Tejesta puts out -- To create that special feeling. Frames will be inspired by places and times past, and while we do base most of our inspiration from vintage frames and classic shapes, I always want to make someone feel a type of way. I want all Tejesta customers to feel how much attention to detail goes into each project. Our first collection was great, but now that I’m almost 10 years in the business and now focusing on manufacturing and design, I can see how my work is evolving. It gets better and better after every step. I was a mess before, scrambling for design and adding last minute details. Now, we have grown and gotten organized to the point that we have collections designed and set for release throughout this year, 2020 & 2021.

Our summer release will feature the J.P.G. coming in 4 different colors, Japanese Gold, Silver, Yellow Gold & Rose Gold. The exciting part about this frame is it’s heritage. Aside from creating unique apparel, JPG made the MOST INSANE SPECTACLES! It was something the eyewear industry had never seen before. He would put springs (like from a trampoline) on temples without any function. He made the eyewear semi toy-like, in a great way. I mean look at the photos above, that shit is crazy! I’ve decided to honor JPG because of how much he has meant to me since I was a kid. I have a HUGE library of JPGs and 90% of the shapes are ALL oval. Our J.P.G will feature an oval silhouette with our signature mono-block hinge and temple design with Native American filigree. To add some detail me and my team created a color scheme where parts of the frame will be brushed and polished. Creating some texture and contrast. More news coming soon y’all.

🙂
Love
J