I’m Aarne Lehti, the designer behind Irregalia. My work is rooted in the belief that irregularity is not a flaw but a signature of nature. I design sculptural, asymmetrical sunglasses inspired by fine art, surrealism, the queer experience, and the natural asymmetry of the human face. Eyewear is meant to express you.

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The idea for Irregalia began three years ago when I came across a book of Salvador Dalí’s paintings. I started sketching frames, knowing the vision I wanted to bring to life but not yet having the skills. To learn, I walked into local optometrist shops in Helsinki and offered to work for free in exchange for knowledge. One of my mentors, Aila Koski-Vähälä, specialized in designing glasses for disabled children with unique facial structures, reinforcing my vision to design asymmetrical frames highlighting the unique beauty in what others might see as imperfections.

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For several winters I traveled to her workshop in Lapinlahti, Pohjois-Savo, where I crafted prototypes by day and rolled out a sleeping bag on the workshop floor by night. Since then, I have developed my designs further, exploring digital 3D processes at Aalto University while still handcrafting frames from deadstock Italian cellulose acetate I salvaged from Aila when she retired. This makes every frame inherently limited. Once a colorway is gone, it is gone forever.

 

My background spans design, craftsmanship, and performing arts, and I have had the privilege of being mentored by some of Finland’s leading eyewear professionals and designers, including Aila Koski-Vähälä, Satu Kervinen, Teemu Jokipii, Matti Piipponen, Vesa Pallas-Vesa, and Vincent Catani. Each of them helped me shape the vision that has now become Irregalia: eyewear that exists at the intersection of function and art, balancing femininity and masculinity, the classic and the experimental, symmetry and asymmetry.

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New irregular path unfolds ahead.