Will.i.am launches eyewear range with designer George Gorrow
Music producer Will.i.am has taken his much-vaunted interest in design a step further by teaming up with George Gorrow, co-founder of fashion brand Ksubi, to create his own eyewear range (+ slideshow).
![ill.i Optics by will.i.am](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/will-i-am-eyewear_dezeen_468_0b.jpg)
Called ill.i Optics, the collection was "born from a life-long passion for experimental eyewear on and off the stage", according to an official statement on the newly-launched website for the range.
![Will i Am eyewear collection](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/will-i-am-eyewear-collection_dezeen_468_5.jpg)
"Ill.i marries iconic eyewear classics with contemporary progressive design," it continued.
![Will i Am eyewear collection](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/will-i-am-eyewear-collection_dezeen_468_12.jpg)
The initial range includes nine different styles of sunglasses and another nine styles of optical frames.
![Will i Am eyewear collection](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/will-i-am-eyewear-collection_dezeen_468_10.jpg)
References for the collection include the oversized glasses worn in the 1980s by hip hop artists including Run DMC and Afrika Bambaataa.
![Will i Am eyewear collection](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/will-i-am-eyewear-collection-frames_dezeen_468_6.jpg)
"I've been incorporating Will.i.am's progressive thinking and ideas on design and innovation, while still acknowledging our shared and complete infatuation with historical eyewear and designers of the past," said Gorrow.
![Will i Am eyewear collection](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/will-i-am-eyewear-collection-frames_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
"Ill.i is contemporary, inventive and design focused, while concurrently being a nod to popular culture and hip hop roots, from two eyewear obsessives who have been collecting for over 20 years."
![Will i Am eyewear collection](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/will-i-am-eyewear-collection_dezeen_468_4.jpg)
Gorrow was one of the original co-founders of troubled Australian fashion label Ksubi.
![Will i Am eyewear collection](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/will-i-am-eyewear-collection_dezeen_468_7.jpg)
Will.i.am, who first found fame as a member of hip-hop pop group The Black Eyed Peas, has been vocal about his interest in both design and technology in recent years.
![Will i Am eyewear collection](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/will-i-am-eyewear_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
In 2011, computer chip company Intel appointed him as a creative director. Earlier this year, he unveiled a 3D-printer developed in collaboration with Coca-Cola that used filaments made from recycled bottles. He also contributed to one of the installations in the Barbican's Digital Revolution exhibition on computer coding and design.