LONDON— Kirk & Kirk has announced that Anaheim, Calif.-based Luxe-Lab will distribute their Vivarium and Solarium collections in the U.S. and Canada. As part of the agreement, Luxe-Lab will hold a limited amount of Kirk & Kirk stock in California and, once an optician becomes an accredited Kirk & Kirk stockist, they will be able to order frames directly from the U.S. stock, reducing delivery time and saving on transport costs, as well as offering competitively priced, high quality lenses.

“Kirk & Kirk is very excited to be working with Richard Wilhelm and Luxe-Lab,” said Jason Kirk, managing director of Kirk & Kirk. “Richard has built an excellent reputation over his years in the industry for professionalism and high quality work. Producing specialist frames, it makes absolute sense for us to partner with a specialist lab and there is none better.”

Kirk and Richard Wilhelm, owner of Luxe-Lab, have been friends for many years, the company said. Wilhelm has spent over two decades in various industry roles including national sales manager for Alain Mikli, launching Salt Optics and most recently, opening Luxe-Lab, a specialist in high end glazing for the U.S. and Canada.

“I have always enjoyed Jason and Karen’s approach to design,” added Wilhelm. “The collection is different from anything on the market yet totally wearable. There is a humor to the collection that compliments the serious. Kirk & Kirk is an important collection for any optician that seeks to differentiate themselves from their competitors.”

The British company, launched at Silmo in 2014, won the Newcomer Award at the Hall Of Frames, voted on by Swiss and German opticians, and a Silver Award at The London Design Awards, a multi-discipline design program. According to Kirk & Kirk, the collection has been well-received across Europe and some of the leading American and Canadian opticians have already made a commitment to carry the collection including Selima Optique, l.a. Eyeworks, Luxury Eyesight and MS Dion.

Kirk & Kirk will show their collection for the first time in the U.S. at Vision Expo East in March.