Formica Martian 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.
This variant is the red signal. A saturated, heat driven crimson that feels like a transmission from somewhere unreal, paired with a warm yellow lens that turns daylight into a fever dream. Martian is not subtle. It is alert color, alarm color, theater color. The kind of red that refuses politeness and makes the room reorganize itself around you.
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.
The temples translate the ant motif into sculptural lines, with proportions that nod to Dalí’s long legged elephant imagery, weightlessness made architectural, elegance made strange. Salvador Dalí’s signature is engraved on the temple, with a second signature placed on the lens, preserving authorship in both structure and gaze. Inside the frame, two Dalí quotations are engraved and then hand painted as a hidden interior narrative: “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, completing the work as a displayable object. 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.
This pair is collected by Kevin Gates.
Provenance
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Collaboration: Maison Marcel × Dalí Universe
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Status: Licensed Salvador Dalí product
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Edition: Édition d’Artiste, 111 worldwide
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Uniqueness: Each piece is a 1 of 1, with 111 total 1 of 1 artifacts produced in this design
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Collection: Collected by Kevin Gates
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Serialization: Marked E.A. on the side of the temple and recorded within the archive
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Authentication: Certificate of Authenticity included
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Object Set: Frame paired with sculptural stand made in Italy and commemorative packaging
Details
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Origin: Handcrafted in Modena, Italy
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Finish: Hand finished with hand painted details in Modena, Italy
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Material: Premium Italian cellulose acetate in Martian red
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Hardware: Stainless steel core with precision hinges
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Lenses: ZEISS certified polarized, impact resistant warm yellow sunglass lenses
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Signatures: Salvador Dalí engraved on temple and on lens
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Interior Engravings: Dalí quotations on the inside of the frame, hand painted for contrast and permanence
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Stand: Hand finished sculptural stand made in Italy
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Packaging: Dalí commemorative presentation packaging, soft carrier, microfiber cloth, Certificate of Authenticity, authenticity and warranty cards, care booklet
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Craft Note: Each pair is handmade and will show subtle variations
Dalí Reference Index
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The Great Masturbator (1929)
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The Persistence of Memory (1931)
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The Temptation of St. Anthony (1946)
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The Elephants (1948)
Size, Fit, and Weight
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Lens Width: 44 mm
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Bridge: 26 mm
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Temple Length: 95 mm
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Frame Width: 147 mm
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Weight: 34 grams
