Monocle in the Making: Building Our Baby

Dr Carla Schneider • May 29, 2020

It's our story and it's worth sharing.

When we finally saw our clinic completed, we were humbled by how great it looked! However, it took a lot of hard work from some very special people in order to get to that stage, and we’d like to share that journey with you.

We always knew what kind of optometry practice we wanted to run, from the care we offer, equipment we use and even which frames to have on our shelves. However, we never knew what we wanted it to look like! Well, we had some vague ideas, but the underlying notion was that we wanted something different. After all, we knew we’d be spending a lot of time in this place! In addition, after travelling across the world to select some incredible frames that embody tradition and countless hours of effort, we didn’t just want to stick them on any old shelf. Sure, they’ve got a voice of their own, but we wanted them to sing!

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So how did Monocle Optometry end up looking like it does?

We reached out to a longtime architect friend, Clint from M3architecture in Brisbane to help brainstorm some design ideas. The interesting thing is that Clint has rarely set foot in an optometry practice, so he was a breath of fresh air in the design process as he was going off sheer creativity. After many discussions about shapes, curves, and functionality, we came up with a concept that we loved. Clint had the idea to make it seem as though you were walking into an optical illusion with the curved display wall and roof. Yep, that qualifies as different! From this initial idea, the rest of the shop seemed to fall into place, including the monocle shaped front desk!

Now that we had the blueprints for the shop, it was time to begin the actual fit out. However, this was easier said than done! With a lot of curves and delicate materials, it wasn’t for the faint hearted. Thankfully, our friend Michael owns ABG projects and has a ton of experience with shop fit outs. Michael was up for the monumental challenge and having his own CNC machine was a big help in cutting out some tricky shapes. Michael and his team worked tirelessly for months on end, and somehow brought the counter in through the front door in 2 separate pieces and subsequently joined them on site which was a feat of its own! They finished up the herringbone flooring, and the fabrication of porthole glasses to hang in the window was the icing on the cake!