FORMICA ULTRAVIOLET · Édition d’Artiste

Formica Ultraviolet is a Maison Marcel collaboration with Dalí Universe, created as a licensed Salvador Dalí product designed to live two lives at once, on the face and in the archive.

Crafted in October 2025, this edition is rendered in a brown translucent Italian acetate with white hand painted details. I chose this brown to keep things classic. It reminded me of my roots, grounded and timeless, like vintage objects that get better with age. The translucency keeps it alive, letting light move through the structure, and the white hand painted marks read like catalog notations on a found artifact.

Dalí never used the ant as decoration. He used it like a warning flare. In his universe, ants arrive when something is too polished, too permanent, too convinced of itself. They crawl into the image as a quiet force of decay, dissolving the illusion of perfection and reminding you that time always wins. That is why Formica exists. I tied the ant to this frame as a ceremonial death of conventional eyewear. Not a trend shift, a burial. The end of safe shapes, safe taste, safe vision. The ant becomes the architect of transformation, eating away the old rules until something surreal is revealed underneath. What remains is not better eyewear. It is a new object with a pulse. Decay is the doorway. Decay is how the unreal enters the room.

A light purple rose gradient lens shifts the mood instantly, turning the gaze into atmosphere, soft at the edge, unreal at the center. The temples translate the ant motif into sculptural lines that nod to Dalí’s elephant imagery, where weight becomes illusion and the real becomes theatrical. Salvador Dalí’s signature is engraved on the temple, with a second signature placed on the lens. Inside the frame, two Dalí quotations are engraved and then hand painted: “I don’t do drugs. I am drugs.” and “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.”

Each Édition d’Artiste arrives with a hand finished sculptural stand made in Italy and Dalí commemorative packaging. Every piece is authenticated by an accompanying Certificate of Authenticity, linking the E.A. mark on the temple to its recorded entry within the Maison Marcel × Dalí Universe archive.

Formica Ultraviolet is currently in the collection of designer Alex Chinneck.

Provenance

• Collaboration: Maison Marcel × Dalí Universe

• Status: Licensed Salvador Dalí product

• Crafted: October 2025

• Edition: Édition d’Artiste, 111 worldwide

• Uniqueness: Each piece is a 1 of 1, with 111 total 1 of 1 artifacts produced in this design

• Serialization: Marked E.A. on the side of the temple and recorded within the archive

• Authentication: Certificate of Authenticity included

• Object Set: Frame paired with sculptural stand made in Italy and commemorative packaging

Details

• Origin: Handcrafted in Modena, Italy

• Finish: Hand finished with white hand painted details in Modena, Italy

• Material: Premium Italian cellulose acetate in Brown Translucent

• Hardware: Stainless steel core with precision hinges

• Lenses: ZEISS certified polarized, impact resistant light purple rose gradient sunglass lens

• Signatures: Salvador Dalí engraved on temple and on lens

• Interior Engravings: Dalí quotations on the inside of the frame, hand painted

• Stand: Hand finished sculptural stand made in Italy

• Packaging: Dalí commemorative presentation packaging, soft carrier, microfiber cloth, Certificate of Authenticity, authenticity and warranty cards, care booklet

• Shipping: Ships within 7 business days

• Craft Note: Each pair is handmade and will show subtle variations

Dalí Reference Index

• Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening (1944)

• The Temptation of St. Anthony (1946)

• The Elephants (1948)

• The Great Masturbator (1929)

Size, Fit, and Weight

• Lens Width: 44 mm

• Bridge: 26 mm

• Temple Length: 95 mm

• Frame Width: 147 mm

• Weight: 34 grams