A pair of first-generation Ray-Ban Meta glasses in front of their charging case. Photo CCadio, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Ray-Ban Meta glasses
What it took directly
- statedRay-Ban Meta took from Ray-Ban Stories, the first generation, redesigned from the ground up"We redesigned these from the ground up, improving all the core features of the first generation" Meta Newsroom, "Introducing the New Ray-Ban | Meta Smart Glasses" (September 27, 2023)
- statedRay-Ban Stories took from the original Wayfarer frame, which it outweighs by about five grams"Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses weigh only about five grams more than the original Wayfarer design" Meta, launch post for Ray-Ban Stories (September 9, 2021)
- statedRay-Ban Stories comes from talks between EssilorLuxottica and Mark Zuckerberg about joining forces, shortly before the pandemic"Not long before the pandemic began, EssilorLuxottica and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg began talking about joining forces on a product that incorporated the strengths of both companies" Tech at Meta, "The Making of Ray-Ban Stories"
- statedRay-Ban Stories' charging case took from a test station engineer Igor Markovsky built in his home during the 2020 lockdown"With Meta’s testing labs inaccessible due to pandemic lockdown, engineer Igor Markovsky had an idea: he set up a rapid design and validation station in his home that let the team literally run drop tests to analyze if the prototypes could hold a charge." Tech at Meta, "The Making of Ray-Ban Stories"
- documentedThe Ray-Ban glasses project comes from Facebook's years of work toward augmented-reality glasses, announced as a Ray-Ban partnership at Facebook Connect"Facebook has been talking about augmented reality glasses for years, and it’s taking a concrete step toward them next year with a Ray-Ban partnership." The Verge (Adi Robertson, September 16, 2020)
- documentedThe Ray-Ban brand behind the glasses comes from Bausch & Lomb, which sold its sunglass business, Ray-Ban included, to Luxottica"Bausch & Lomb Inc. is selling its sunglass business, which includes the Ray-Ban brand, for $640 million to Luxottica Group S.p.A. of Italy." The New York Times, Company News (April 29, 1999)
What it learned to do
- statedRay-Ban Stories learned from EssilorLuxottica, Ray-Ban's parent company, working with Facebook from concept to final design"EssilorLuxottica, Ray-Ban’s parent company, and Facebook worked together from concept through final design to seamlessly integrate smart technology into an iconic form factor" Meta, launch post for Ray-Ban Stories (September 9, 2021)
- statedRay-Ban Stories' audio learned from Reality Labs' earlier research on advanced audio"We leveraged previous work Reality Labs has done on advanced audio, which made it possible to work with custom audio drivers" Tech at Meta, "The Making of Ray-Ban Stories"
The tradition it sits in
- statedRay-Ban Stories comes from an ordinary pair of Ray-Ban glasses, with the technology built into it"Building cool technology first and then figuring out how to wrap style on top of it was a non-starter. The table stakes were taking a pair of Ray-Ban glasses and figuring out how to build smart glasses technology into it." Tech at Meta, "The Making of Ray-Ban Stories"
- statedRay-Ban Meta comes from the Wayfarer, Ray-Ban's frame style"Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses come in the timeless Wayfarer style you already know and love, plus a brand-new Headliner design for a more retro look" Meta Newsroom, "Introducing the New Ray-Ban | Meta Smart Glasses" (September 27, 2023)
- documentedThe Wayfarer comes from Bausch & Lomb, which launched it in 1952"Wayfarers, launched by Bausch & Lomb in 1952" Adweek (Richard Brunelli), "Ray-Ban Wayfarers: Made in the Shade"
- inferredRay-Ban Meta comes from wearable-computing research that expected computers to disappear into ordinary eyeglasses"The enabling apparatus will soon be invisible as it disappears into ordinary clothing and eyeglasses." inferred — Steve Mann, "Wearable Computing: A First Step Toward Personal Imaging", IEEE Computer (February 1997), described eyeglass-mounted computers and cameras; neither Meta nor EssilorLuxottica cites his work in these sources
Where the whole form comes from
- inferredThe Wayfarer frame comes from Raymond F. E. Stegeman's design patent for a spectacle front, filed for Bausch & Lomb in July 1952"Inventor Raymond F. E. Stegeman Original Assignee Bausch a Lomb Optical Company Filing date 1952-07-22" inferred — the patent record (US D169995) names Stegeman as inventor and Bausch & Lomb as assignee in 1952, the year Adweek gives for the Wayfarer's launch; neither record uses the name Wayfarer
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