For five decades, Dorin Frankfurt has been the architect of Israeli “accessible luxury,” anchoring her brand in an unwavering ethos: designed and manufactured in Tel Aviv.
Her signature dark-rimmed frames, deep red lipstick, and sharp-witted cynicism have made her one of the most recognizable cultural icons in the country.
Fresh off her landmark solo exhibition “Fashion Worker” at the Ashdod Museum this summer, the 75-year-old designer is not looking back. Instead, she is leaning into the future, translating her half-century of design experience into a bold new medium: futuristic, 3D-printed eyewear.
Partnering with Lajo – an edgy eyewear brand born from the Israeli optical company 3D EYES – Frankfurt is subverting mass-market consumerism with small-batch, tech-driven design. Far from slowing down, she feels more liberated than ever before.
“Everything I design speaks to – and engages with – my own aesthetic,” Frankfurt notes, dismissing any notions of high-minded sophistication. For her, the iconic dark glasses were never a calculated marketing ploy; they were a biological necessity.
“I’ve worn glasses since the fourth grade, due to a sensitivity to shifts between light and shadow,” she explains.
Growing up in the 1960s, an era dominated by sun-tanned, “natural” Israeli girls, Frankfurt’s long dark hair, pale skin, and heavy frames made her an immediate outlier.
It was her mother who taught her to weaponize the vulnerability. Her very first pair featured purple, cat-eye frames. Later, in high school, she added her trademark red lipstick – a combination she says quite literally saved her from feeling like an outsider.
Over the years, the lenses became a sanctuary.
“Dark lenses certainly have wonderful advantages,” Frankfurt muses. “You can hide social discomfort behind them – use them to keep a bit of distance. This ‘shield’ softens many aspects of life.”
Today, that shield has morphed into something entirely different: a deliberate persona so distinct it borders on the theatrical.
“People tend to view me a bit like a caricature – and I mean that in a good way,” she chuckles. “It’s an achievement of mine: I’ve managed to create a persona that lends itself very easily to caricature. And it happened quite unintentionally.”
Her venture into eyewear alongside optometrist Joseph Hever and entrepreneur Orel Nizri is a natural evolution for a designer who has always quietly championed technology.
While Frankfurt is synonymous with artisanal craftsmanship, she rejects the label of “low-tech.” As early as 1999, her brand was utilizing digital pattern-making to eliminate fabric waste and pioneering e-commerce long before the local market caught up.
3D-printed glasses offer flexible, tech-driven design
With Lajo, the technology is 3D printing, a method that allows for micro-batches, zero excess inventory, and meticulous control over custom finishes.
The collection spans four unique frames born from words, literature, and rock & roll – ranging from the feline Hollywood glamour of EVA and the refined literary chic of COLETTE, to the androgynous rock spirit of LOU and the bold, futuristic stage-performance vibe of ZIGGY.
For Frankfurt, this tech-driven flexibility is the blueprint for preserving the local design community.
“If we want to sustain a design industry and a community of designers here, this is the niche to focus on: ‘accessible luxury,’” she says.
“I don’t believe we should be producing ‘basics’ – brands like Zara and their peers already do an excellent job of capturing everyone’s trends. Instead, we should be building a design industry that is small, bold, and purposeful.”
Her anti-consumerist advice to a cash-strapped public is characteristically blunt: “When people say there’s no money, my response is: buy less.”
Looking back at her expansive archive for her recent museum exhibition forced Frankfurt to confront the full scope of her career – including the moments that went wrong. Her message to creators hesitant to make major pivots later in life is rooted in that hard-earned resilience.
“Don’t be afraid to fail,” she urges. “There’s no way to know in advance whether something will succeed.... Every success comes with its share of failures. Even when I took a hard knock, I kept moving forward.”
At 75, flooded with offers and navigating a thriving new collaboration, Frankfurt rejects the invisible boundaries society places on older women.
“There is absolutely no reason for an older woman to give up – none at all,” she says.
Viewing both her wardrobe and her home as a “movable feast,” she designs not to dictate how people look, but to provide a catalyst for their own self-expression – or, as she calls it, “that special ‘spice’ known as Dorin Frankfurt.”