Interview with Gareth Townshend & Megan Trimble of Zanzan
ZANZAN
Maltese for the thrill of wearing something special for the first time. Handmade in Valdobbiadene. Designed in London. Italian acetate, Carl Zeiss lenses, suede-lined cases. A time machine.
ZANZAN · Handmade in Valdobbiadene
"Slip them on, and suddenly you're Anna Karina in Bande à Part or some rogue in a Rio samba den. The name's a dare: what version of yourself will you unlock?"
In 1960s London, Maltese gangsters coined the term zanzan: that electric thrill of slipping into something sharp for the first time. Decades later, designers Gareth Townshend and Megan Trimble resurrected the word for their cult-favourite sunglasses, handcrafted in Italy's Valdobbiadene with Italian acetate, Carl Zeiss lenses, and cases lined in English suede. Drawing from the Dolce Vita beatniks, French New Wave cinema, and Rio's psychedelic samba collectives, ZANZAN is less a brand than a time machine. Not nostalgia, they insist: acculturation. They quote the past as a natural antidote to the present. And they look extraordinary doing it.
A girl, a boy, and a dog-eared dream. We were obsessed with Alicia Drake's The Beautiful Fall, that line about lying on a starlit terrace, "beautiful and damned," with a generation poised between past and future. Then came the grind: spreadsheets, midnight phone calls to Italian factories, trade shows where we'd whisper, "These aren't sunglasses — they're artifacts."
It was always about feeling. Those Maltese gangsters understood it: when you wear something transformative, you become it. We just wanted to bottle that lightning.
Gareth — By treating references like fuel, not relics. The French New Wave wasn't about looking back — it was punk. We use those silhouettes, but with Japanese hinges or Zeiss tech. It's future-vintage.
Megan — And we're ruthless editors. If a design feels like costume, we scrap it. The best pieces feel unearthed, not reproduced. We wanted to quote the past as a natural antidote to the present, to annex it. But it's a process of acculturation rather than colonisation. At root is a love of these eras — a lot of the references allude to authentic style movements that grew out of the ground for reasons other than commerce.
Gareth — Because "luxury" got lazy. Hand-polished acetate? That's alchemy. Our Valdobbiadene makers use 60-year-old techniques alongside lasers. It's like a watchmaker meets Blade Runner.
Megan — And the suede-lined case? It's the unboxing ritual. You should feel like you have been handed a relic from some stylish parallel universe.
"It's a real shame these movements are no longer rolling off the production line. Nowadays it's probably impossible for a brand to represent a nation the way Armani or YSL or Ralph Lauren did. So it's natural to turn to whatever turns you on."
Gareth Townshend · ZANZANMegan — A secret. But imagine if Pasolini directed Mad Max… with better sunglasses.
Crosby, Stills and Nash.
Grace Coddington.
- Conquistador
- Hutton Wilkinson
- Jonathon Zawada
- Neil Krug
- Jonathon Jeremiah
- Indigo Clarke
- Alaric
- Emma Summerton
- Hermès — outside of trend, value-driven
- Frédéric Malle
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