MOREL FRANCE: exploring colour through collective chance
- By Clodagh Norton
Amélie Morel talked to 20/20 EUROPE about the new Morel collection, Enigma which launches at MIDO this month – and how the French company’s approach to colour has moved with the times.
Q: MOREL had some striking new collection launches in 2025 – including a unique collaboration with Constance Guisset – and goes into 2026 with more exciting news. How do you reflect on this period for your family business?
A: Amelie Morel: 2025 was a strong year for Morel, marked by the launch of our new collaboration with Constance Guisset, which has been a great success. The optical market remains challenging due to geopolitical instability in certain regions. Fortunately, MOREL operates 19 subsidiaries worldwide, enabling continued growth in 2025. Creation and innovation remain at the heart of the company. We find opticians are looking for creative, well differentiated products, and Morel meets these expectations through its house collection as well as its collaborations with Jean Nouvel and Constance Guisset. Service is equally essential at this time. Being a partner to the optician means supporting them through training and marketing. It is a 360° partnership.
Q: Guisset’s hand in the design of the new collaboration collection inspired eyewear by Morel with a new and fresh character and poetic creativity. How has working together with one of France’s top product designers inspired the company’s eyewear perspective going forward into 2026?
A: AM: Behind every collaboration, there is a “rencontre” or as you say in English, “an encounter”. Constance Guisset is a talented designer. This collaboration is the result of a shared creative journey: we worked hand in hand to create a collection inspired by calligraphy, a form of expression close to Constance’s heart. The expertise of Morel, combined with Constance Guisset’s creativity, gave rise to a poetic, feminine, colourful collection
Q: How does the new collection Enigma – launching at MIDO 2026 – explore the current codes of colour and design, proposing frames that explore intense colours with a bold aesthetic?
A: Morel design team: One of the big things in development at the moment is the use of strong contrasts, and the effects of using solid versus transparent colour. This is revealing the natural beauty of acetate regardless of how complex the acetate designs you are using are. For us at Morel, it’s also a way to showcase the high level of precision of our manufacturing. With our new concept, Enigma, any form of drift is unacceptable. Everything must be really precise, perfect shapes, perfect symmetry. What is also interesting is to offer very outstanding products, which are, surprisingly, very comfortable.
Q: Can you pick out one or two colours in this new collection and explain how they create a new look in Enigma?
A: Morel design team: The Enigma concept is characterized by a coloured, transparent, bold frame with a very thin and plain flashy colour on the contour. This has the effect of highlighting the elegance of the shape and its silhouette. One of the strongest and most iconic tones featured is the crystal pink, paired with plain gold. We have had a lot of fun exploring how we could apply this colour, which is a version of “Barbie” pink, or “teenager” pink. It’s just fresh and really fun! And it works, believe it or not: the colour is already one of our best-selling colour concepts
Q: What is the attraction of a two-tone frame and the effect it creates on the human face?
A: Morel design team: When it’s time to unleash colour creativity, it can be quite simple. A colour which is soft and humble, selected because it suits the majority of complexions, has to meet many criteria, from the level of saturation of each colour to how close or different it is to the natural tones of the skin… there are so many different things to consider, it is like a science. For Enigma, we were less concerned with how well a tone will match the tones of the skin. It was purely about the frame as a statement of colour, regardless of opinions and a need to conform. It’s a relief to have the chance to launch a collection like that that gives us complete freedom to work with colours in new ways.
Q: What have you enjoyed most about the creation of the Enigma line?
A: Morel design team: We all remember the special way we managed the prototyping. The room was a little like a children’s playground. We cut the different frame parts, in a large number of different colours, without pre-assembling or pre-associating the colours. Then, as you would do with lego, we mixed and matched the tones to create random combinations..if I was going to try to describe the process in a more sophisticated manner, I would compare the process to “Cadavre exquis” – French for ‘Exquisite corpse’ – a surrealist creative game invented in the 1920s – where the final result is similarly unexpected, playful and imaginative. This is really the same process we were using – embracing spontaneity and chance. In fact, still today, we have kept this “colour-party-game” in the sampling room and we show it to people visiting Morel. We realised the game instantly triggers a desire to take part and create one’s very own unique “Enigma collection”. We have also tried to translate the concept in our marketing visuals. An idea crossing one’s mind…something that feels good and cheers you up if you are in a bad mood!
Q: Finally, for MIDO, are there other new product launches in the Morel collection? Can you please outline for example any new products in the men’s or women’s lines you are adding?
A: AM: Creativity takes centre stage. We are launching a special edition for MIDO, a highly colourful collection for both men and women. Featuring bold and original colour combinations, the designs play with the transparency of acetate. These frames are equipped with the technology that has made Morel eyewear so successful: the screwless flex hinge, ensuring maximum comfort.
