Looking back at her optician school days, Amandine Thevenot wasn’t necessarily prepared for her career path that led to the design and ownership of her own optical boutique studio.
Amandine has been gaining experience by working in France and Canada for both high street optician retailers and independent stores. She started as an Assistant Manager and moved up to become a Team Leader of 12 people in a store in Montreal. In 2017, she decided to launch her own boutique optical shop in Aix-en-Provence, France.
With her International experience, Amandine has learnt over the years different values that today defines the foundations of her concept store: quality service, listening, honesty and respect. Amandine work ethic is driven first and foremost by passion. She only works with eyewear products where she has a guarantee of high quality materials with a very traditional concept to production process.
She also aims for her shop to become a sharing place. She deliberately only has a restricted stock of frames and styles so her store has left space on the walls to display various artists paintings from the Provence area. The Provence region has a unique nest of artists who are looking for the right places to exhibit their hard work and Amandine’s store is a perfect compromise between a traditional temporary art gallery and a pop up store.
Patricia, another passionate addict about eyewear has always looked up to at entering the Beaux Arts school and felt that joining arms with Amandine to open her new concept store was a great combination to fulfill her dream.
This is how Art & Lunettes was born to become a unique eyewear independent boutique shop in Aix en Provence. Art & Lunettes is a unique optician concept store mixing art and eyewear, inspired by her mentor Georges Laoun, one of the most successful optician in Canada with who Amandine worked with in the past.
… Eyewear
The face is the first thing we make eye contact with when encountering a person and logically glasses play a big part of this first impression. This is why choosing the right frames for you is a basic need that we can help you with.
At Art & Lunettes, we’ve only selected around twenty collections of frames from independent eyewear designers, all very different with a unique brand identity. However all these collections have one common denominator: all frames are handmade and mostly produced in Europe.
Amandine has nurtured along the way a solid relationship with her suppliers and she knows how each pair of glasses have been manufactured and where.
Moreover, 80% of our spectacles are exclusive to our store in Aix-en-Provence and every frame sold won’t be replenished in her stock so you can have a guarantee of exclusivity and making sure your neighbor or your colleague doesn’t wear the same glasses as yours!
At Art & Lunettes store, we aim to change collections frequently and new frames should be discovered at your next visit. You can even follow our new exclusive collection arrivals by following us on our Instagram artetlunettes.
Also our collection of frames can suit any budget from 115€ up to 500€ which makes us competitive compared to made in Asia glasses widely available in big retailers. Just compare between the shops to see this for yourself.
Art & Lunettes is engaged in responsible environment and aways look for designers and suppliers who source eco friendly materials.
… and Art
Our team at Art & Lunettes think that each frame has some artistic connotation and it seemed logical than combining frames and exhibiting art was a great concept.
At our Art & Lunettes store, all kinds of artists have the opportunity to exhibit their art work during one month without any fee. Regional artists benefit from a large exhibition space with a central location in Aix-en-Provence. Every month on Thursday, Art & Lunettes organizes an evening introduction with the new artist so people can meet and share their view on their artwork and discover our new frames collections.
… big smile from Amandine and Patricia
As soon as you enter her shop, you will always be welcome with a big smile from Amandine or Patricia.
Patricia who has opened the store with Amandine has been practicing for more than 30 years. She’s also a qualified optician.
Amandine and Patricia have combined their experience, know-how and passion towards eyewear so they can guarantee you the best service with two priorities: listening and design expertise.
Friendly and highly skilled, our team of experts pride themselves to suggest you different frames that suit your head so that you look great and feel good about your new spectacles.
This is also why very few frames are displayed in our shopping window, we would rather first consult with you before offering a large choice of different glasses suitable to your needs.
At Art & Lunettes, every customer is unique. You will be welcome in one of our two consulting rooms with a cup of tea or coffee. Amandine or Patricia will take all the necessary time to suggest you what could be your next spectacles. So please take your time and come back several times to our store if necessary.
… in the heart of Aix-en-Provence
This new optical store concept couldn’t be more suitable for the city of Aix-en-Provence, the hometown of Cézanne, widely recognized all over the world for its culture.
Our address is 3 rue Paul Bert, minutes away from l’Hôtel de Ville. With the flower market and Cardeurs square nearby, the location of her shop was the perfect fit for Amandine. Art & Lunettes has been a great addition to several other independent shops.
Come and visit us at Art & Lunettes !