What does it take to embark on a new venture? Certainly, a great deal of courage, along with the tenacity to move forward with conviction and consistency along a path that is both new and far from easy. Courage was certainly not lacking for Daniel Miko and Sebastian Zenetti when in 2016 they launched their first You Mawo eyewear collection at Opti. It was an exploratory and measured debut, with a pared-back trade-fair stand and just six models offered in five different colours. By the second day, everything had already sold out, thanks to the enthusiasm of visionary independent opticians from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Encounters are never entirely by chance, and from 2017 to 2019 the two founders focussed their efforts on building the brand’s foundations and identity through a strong sales team, beginning with Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 2018 came the launch of the Air Collection, a reinterpretation of the bestsellers from the Classic Collection, focussed on the extreme lightness and thinness of the frames. This was a genuine challenge, and one that was successfully met.

Anyone expecting You Mawo to continue along the less is more line in 2019 would have been mistaken. An unexpected shift followed: the German brand changed course decisively, turning towards the exaggerated forms of the Bold Collection. The iconic and forward-looking Metamorphosis 1 and 2 masks, defined by bold organic architectures, date from that year. Everything, however, follows a clear logic: the exploration of material and identity also unfolds through opposites, through emphatic, personality-driven forms that remain remarkably lightweight. The name itself, You Mawo, an acronym for yoUr MAgic World, encapsulates the promise of ongoing and free experimentation to make eyewear for as many people as possible in order for them to be able to see the beauty of the world.

In 2021 the brand reached a key milestone, beginning independent in-house production (Additive Scale) near Munich, enabling full control over every stage of manufacturing and, above all, over product quality. Another significant date is 2024 marking the start of the Zeiss cooperation through Zeiss Visufit 1000, which, by integrating You Mawo technology, allows the creation of bespoke frames paired with customised Zeiss lenses.