08.19.2019

For Smart Glasses Brand North, A Chance To Be At The Intersection Of Tech And Design

The growing team behind North, an eyewear company that aims to make smart glasses stylish and functional, began five years ago with three goals: “To make a pair of smart glasses look like regular glasses, to create an experience that is useful and intuitive (not overwhelming or distracting) and to build a different kind of company to make the above possible,” says Stephen Lake, co-founder and CEO. He and his team of 450-plus are driven, ironically, by the notion that we should spend less time in front of screens and have introduced a solve that entails a Bluetooth connection linking your phone to your face. The idea is that by receiving alerts right in front of your eyes as you go about your life, you are spending less time looking down. While wearing the glasses, you can receive texts, check the weather and call an Uber, all without touching your phone. The first phases of the glasses are decidedly stylish, and the choice to open the first US retail location so close to the tech triangle of Downtown Brooklyn has been a good one.  The bi-level flagship looks and feels like an Apple store with its minimal decor and inviting, experience-based technology. Upstairs, there are individual booths that take 3D photos of each customer’s head to better customize each pair of focals. We suggest a visit for the futuristic experience alone.