ic! berlin Eyewear: The Story Behind the Screwless Frame | Sin Chew Optics Brand Story ic! berlin —The Frame That Changed Everything From a Berlin apartment in 1996 to over 60 countries worldwide. The story of the screwless hinge, the city that inspired it, and why ic! berlin is unlike any eyewear you've ever worn. By Sin Chew Optics · April 2026 · 8 min read Most eyewear brands are built on heritage, luxury credentials, or fashion pedigree. ic! berlin was built on none of those things. It was built on a problem — a single, stubborn engineering problem — and the refusal to accept that it couldn't be solved. Born in a Berlin Apartment, Not a Design Studio The year is 1996. Three friends — Ralph Anderl, Philipp Haffmans, and Harald Gottschling — are working out of a small apartment in Berlin-Mitte with a radical idea: glasses made from a single sheet of stainless steel, held together without a single screw, weld, or drop of glue. No manufacturer would touch the concept. No distributor would take them seriously. So they bought machines and made the frames themselves. The first model, named "Jack," weighed just 20 grams. Thirty-two people bought vouchers at the launch party, trusting that the glasses would exist in three months' time. At a trade fair in Cologne in 1997 — where their stand was barely visible behind a giant competitor's booth — the industry came to them. Alain Mikli, Robert La Roche, Lindberg. First orders from the USA, Japan, and Europe were placed on paper by the end of that day. ic! berlin had arrived. The Invention at the Heart of It All What makes ic! berlin genuinely different from virtually every other eyewear brand on the market is not a design philosophy or a colour palette — it is a patented piece of engineering: the screwless hinge. ⚙ The Screwless Hinge System ic! berlin frames are constructed from 0.5mm cold-rolled stainless spring steel, with temples and fronts that interlock through a patented clip mechanism — no screws, no welds, no glue. The result is a frame that can be taken apart and reassembled by hand in seconds, without any tools. And because there are no screws, there is nothing to come loose. The hinge evolved over several years of iteration. Early prototypes were hand-cut from aluminium — functional, but fragile. The breakthrough came when the team discovered a laser sheet-metal cutter at a trade fair in Hanover, enabling them to work with stainless steel for the first time. The material held up. The hinge came alive. A later refinement — the S-shaped cut at the hinge joint, known as the S-Schlag — added protection against twisting and misalignment, and became so integral to the brand that it was eventually adopted as the ic! berlin logo. 🔩 Zero Screws No screws means nothing to loosen, tighten, or lose. The frame stays secure from the first day to the last. 🔄 Tool-Free Assembly Temples and lenses can be swapped, removed, and reattached by hand — in seconds, anywhere. 🏆 Virtually Indestructible Spring steel construction with no weak points means ic! berlin frames are built to outlast virtually any other frame on the market. The Spirit of Berlin in Every Frame ic! berlin is not named after Berlin by coincidence. The brand's entire design philosophy is an expression of the city — its creative restlessness, its anti-establishment energy, its refusal to be defined by the conventions of any single industry or tradition. The brand describes itself as being for independent-minded people who think forward and move ahead — not those who follow trends, but those who create them. The frames are deliberately minimal, urban, and understated. The design language is not about decoration or status signalling — it is about quiet confidence and the beauty of things that work exactly as they should. This is reflected in who wears ic! berlin. Over the years, the brand has attracted an audience that spans creative industries and intellectual life — not defined by wealth or celebrity, but by a certain kind of individuality. 🏗️Architects 🎵Musicians 🎨Artists 🔬Scientists 💼Entrepreneurs 🎬Creatives We create eyewear for those who value individuality over conformity. Not something you wear — something you are. The Collections — Something for Every Kind of Individual Today, ic! berlin offers several distinct collections, each reflecting a different dimension of the brand's material innovation and design sensibility. Over 180 craftsmen, engineers, and technicians design, build, and market the company's original eyewear designs across 60 countries. The Original Classic Collection The collection that started it all. Cold-rolled stainless steel, the original screwless hinge, and clean geometric silhouettes that have remained relevant for nearly three decades. The purest expression of the ic! berlin ethos. Stainless Steel · Screwless Aerospace Innovation FLEXARBON® ic! berlin's most recent material breakthrough. Carbon fibre hybrid technology borrowed from aerospace engineering — ultra-thin, ultra-light, and genuinely flexible. The next evolution of what an eyewear frame can be. Carbon Fibre · 2g Front Premium Craftsmanship Silk Collection A masterclass in material transformation. Silk-derived materials engineered into durable, featherweight frames through a process developed exclusively by ic! berlin's artisans over years of refinement. Acetate · Titanium · Metal Automotive Collaboration Mercedes-AMG A co-branded collection uniting ic! berlin's engineering precision with Mercedes-AMG's performance heritage. Aerodynamic shapes, bold angles, and the FLEXARBON material used to its fullest dramatic effect. Limited Edition · Flexarbon FLEXARBON® — The Most Remarkable Collection New Era in Eyewear FLEXARBON® — Where Aerospace Meets Eyewear The FLEXARBON frame front weighs just 2 grams — lighter than a standard sheet of paper. Constructed from only 0.7mm of ultra-thin layered fibres across eight layers, the material delivers a high-quality matte finish on the exterior with an elegant internal pattern. A defining characteristic is its flexibility, with fronts adjustable across three angled positions using ic! berlin's proprietary FLEX clips. For anyone who has ever found glasses heavy, uncomfortable after long wear, or prone to slipping — FLEXARBON represents a genuinely different experience. 2g Front frame weight — lighter than a sheet of paper 8 Layers of carbon fibre in 0.7mm thickness 3 Adjustable angle positions via FLEX clips Recognised by the World's Most Respected Design Awards ic! berlin's innovation has not gone unnoticed. The brand has earned multiple honours at the world's most prestigious optical and design trade fairs. 🥇 SILMO D'Or — Paris ic! berlin has won the SILMO D'Or — the optical industry's most coveted award for originality and ingenuity — in 2008 and 2011. The award is judged by an independent panel of optical professionals and design experts and recognises the most significant innovations presented at the annual SILMO Paris trade fair. The influence of ic! berlin's screwless hinge system has been far-reaching across the entire industry. The adoption of screwless and hingeless designs by major eyewear brands increased by 25% between 2010 and 2020, directly influenced by ic! berlin's groundbreaking technology. What began as an idea no manufacturer would produce has become a template the entire industry has followed. Why ic! berlin Makes Sense in Singapore A note for Singapore wearers: Singapore's climate — tropical heat, high humidity, air-conditioned interiors — creates specific demands on eyewear. Frames expand and contract, coatings degrade, and screws work loose in ways that are accelerated in this environment. ic! berlin's stainless steel and titanium construction, combined with the complete absence of screws to loosen, makes these frames particularly well-suited to Singapore's conditions. A frame that never needs a trip to the optician for a screw tightening is a meaningful practical advantage here. Beyond practicality, ic! berlin appeals to a particular type of Singaporean wearer — one who appreciates craftsmanship over branding, who values design intelligence over obvious luxury logos, and who wants something that genuinely stands apart from the mass-market eyewear available on every high street. At Sin Chew Optics, we stock ic! berlin because we believe that the best eyewear is not the most expensive or the most recognisable — it is the eyewear that was built with genuine thought, genuine skill, and genuine purpose. ic! berlin is exactly that. See ic! berlin in Person We carry ic! berlin at Sin Chew Optics. Come in to try the frames, feel the hinge, and experience what nearly 30 years of Berlin engineering feels like on your face. Visit sinchewoptics.com.sg ic! berlin Eyewear Screwless Hinge Designer Frames FLEXARBON Made in Germany Singapore Optical Premium Eyewear Berlin
