LAPIMA glasses: sizes, Petit models and which frame fits you

LAPIMA is an independent Brazilian eyewear brand. Its history page says it was founded in 2016 by the couple Gisela and Gustavo Assis, and that its frames are made in its own atelier in Campinas, in the state of São Paulo, to designs by a creative team headed by Gustavo. The brand's atelier page says the artisans there are all trained at the atelier, and that each frame moves through more than 30 steps.

Every LAPIMA frame we stock is acetate, and every listing is tagged Made in Brazil. LAPIMA says it starts from a sheet of Italian cellulose acetate, and it describes the making in a few plain lines: machines cut, hands refine, cotton wheels polish. Polishing, it says, is done entirely by hand, and some models take up to a year to complete. So the acetate is Italian and the frame is Brazilian. If you came here from a search for Italian frames, a LAPIMA frame is made in Brazil.

What you notice first is the volume. LAPIMA's history page ties the generous dimensions of its acetate to the happy-go-lucky culture of the Brazilian people, and several of its own model descriptions talk about a negative surface: a front carved inward around the eye, as on the Violeta and the Nara. Its design page sums up the frames as generous, sculptural and precise. The sizes, though, run small to medium, and that is what this guide is about.

Every LAPIMA listing here gives three numbers, written like 47-24-150 for the Luca. The first is the eye size, the width of one lens in millimetres. The second is the bridge, the gap between the lenses at their closest point. The third is the temple, the length of the arm from the hinge to the tip. The table below adds two more: the lens height, which is the depth of the lens from top to bottom, and the approximate width across the front, which is two eye sizes plus the bridge.

That width is the number to hold against a pair you already own. Measure your current frame from the outer edge of one lens to the outer edge of the other. The LAPIMA frames we list run from about 109mm across, on the Filipe, to about 126mm, on the Carlota sunglasses. If your own pair measures well over that, most LAPIMA fronts will feel narrow on you.

One caution if you compare with LAPIMA's own site. Its product pages give the lens width, bridge and temple, and for the models we checked they match our listings. They also give a total width and a total height, which measure the whole front from end to end and top to bottom, so they come out larger than the figures in our table. The brand gives the Filipe a total width of 137mm, where our table gives about 109mm across the lenses and bridge. Compare like with like.

Frames with the same width across can still sit differently, because the bridge decides where a frame rests on the nose. LAPIMA's bridges run from 18mm, on the Alice, to 25mm, on the Guga Petit and the Lisa. That is a wide spread for a brand whose eye sizes stay this close together, and the chapters below use it.

Petit is LAPIMA's word for a smaller version of a shape. The brand's site calls the Jobim Petit a smaller version of its most iconic aviator, and says the Carlota Petit keeps the cat-eye style of the Carlota in more delicate proportions. The figures on its site bear that out: the Carlota Petit has a 48mm lens against the Carlota's 52mm, and the Jobim Petit a 51mm lens against the Jobim's 54mm. Some Petit models are the optical version of a sunglass shape; LAPIMA says the Carolina Petit was inspired by its sunglass counterpart.

The Petit frames we list are the Guga Petit, the Nina Petit and the Tessa Petit. The Guga Petit is a round frame at 45-25-150. The Nina Petit is a cat-eye at 47-23-145, which LAPIMA describes as a fluid cat-eye shape. The Tessa Petit is 47-21-145, and the brand calls its concave, squared front a tribute to the 70s.

Two things follow for sizing. First, Petit marks a smaller version of a shape, not the smallest frame LAPIMA makes. The smallest frame we list, the Filipe at a 43mm eye, has no Petit in its name, and the Luca and the Lisa share the 47mm eye of the Nina Petit and the Tessa Petit. Second, a Petit front can still be deep: the Guga Petit's lens is 38mm tall. So read the numbers, not the name. If you searched for LAPIMA Petit because you have a small face, the next chapter is the one to read.

The narrowest LAPIMA frames we list are both round. The Filipe is 43-23-150, about 109mm across the front. The Guga Petit is 45-25-150, about 115mm across. If the pair you wear now measures under about 115mm from lens edge to lens edge, start here.

Both pair a small lens with a wide bridge, and it is worth knowing why that works. A small face often comes with a short nose that does not stand far out from the face. On that nose a frame settles low, and lower down every nose is wider, so the bridge that fits is wider than the size of the face would suggest. A 23mm or 25mm bridge on a small lens rests along the sides of the nose, where there is something to hold it. On a nose that is thin and stands well out, the same bridge has nothing to rest on, and the frame slides.

So the Filipe and the Guga Petit suit a narrow face with a broad or low nose. For a narrow face with a thin, high nose, the Tessa Petit at 47-21-145 is the closer fit: about 115mm across, the same as the Guga Petit, but on a narrower bridge that sits higher.

Both small rounds have 150mm temples, which is long for fronts this narrow, and useful if small frames usually feel short behind your ears. LAPIMA calls the Filipe a timeless design that suits all face shapes; on the numbers, it suits a small one best. The Filipe's lens is 41mm deep and the Guga Petit's 38mm, so both leave room for most progressive designs, which the optician fitting your lenses will confirm.

At 47mm to 49mm in the eye, LAPIMA fronts run from about 115mm to 120mm across. The eye sizes are close, so the bridge and the shape decide.

The Luca is a round phantos at 47-24-150, with what LAPIMA calls a key-shaped bridge, a keyhole that the brand says adapts well to various nose types. LAPIMA also calls it super light, with a lens size that supports multifocal use, and at 42mm its lens is the deepest in this group. If you wear progressives and want a round frame, try the Luca first.

The Lisa sunglasses are 47-25-145, a square with the widest bridge in this group; LAPIMA describes the Lisa in straight lines and sharp angles. The Nina Petit, at 47-23-145, and the Tessa Petit, at 47-21-145, have narrower bridges, and both have 35mm lenses, the shallowest LAPIMA lenses we list.

The Julieta, at 49-22-145 and about 120mm across, is a cat-eye that lifts to a point at the outer corner, in dark tortoise. It is the step between the middle of the range and the wider frames, and its 22mm bridge suits most noses.

A rule of thumb for this part of the range: for a broad or low nose, the Lisa or the Luca; for most noses, the Julieta or the Nina Petit; for a thin nose that stands out, the Tessa Petit.

From 50mm up, LAPIMA fronts run from about 120mm to 126mm across. That is a medium width rather than a wide one, so if the pair you wear now is well over 126mm across, LAPIMA may feel narrow. Within this group there is still a real choice of bridge and depth.

The Alice is 51-18-145, about 120mm across, a square, geometric shape in Abacate. Its 18mm bridge is the narrowest in the range, which suits a nose that is thin and stands out. LAPIMA calls the Alice large and perfect for multifocals, and its lens is 42mm deep.

The Gal, at 50-21-145, is a square that LAPIMA gives larger proportions to suit many face shapes. The Leo, at 50-22-150, is a rectangle the brand describes as unisex and light, with a more masculine appeal, and it has 150mm temples. The Nara, at 51-20-145, is a square in matte Natural Black that LAPIMA calls a basic chic, with large lenses that stay light.

The cat-eyes are at 52mm: the Penelope at 52-20-145 and the Violeta at 52-20-150, both about 124mm across. LAPIMA says the Violeta's curves are designed to emphasise the eye, almost cat-like. The Violeta also has the longer arm, at 150mm, and the deeper lens, at 42mm; the Penelope's lens is 39mm.

The sunglasses in this group are the Ines, an oval at 51-20-145, the Stella, a hexagonal shape at 51-21-145, and the Carlota at 52-22-145, about 126mm across and the widest front we list. LAPIMA says the Carlota was the first frame it launched.

The LAPIMA temples in our listings are 145mm or 150mm. The 150mm ones are on the Filipe, the Guga Petit, the Luca, the Leo and the Violeta; the rest are 145mm. Both are ordinary adult lengths. What is less usual is a 150mm temple on a front as small as the Filipe's, which helps a narrow face on a head that is long from front to back.

Temple length matters less than it seems. What decides the fit is where the arm bends down behind the ear, and an optician sets that bend with gentle heat: acetate softens when it is warmed and holds its new shape once it cools. A 150mm temple that runs a little long can have its bend moved to suit you, which is why a temple that is slightly long is easier to live with than one that is short.

Lens height, the depth of the lens from top to bottom, runs from 35mm to 49mm across the LAPIMA frames we list. The shallow ones are the Nina Petit and the Tessa Petit at 35mm, the Julieta and the Leo at 36mm, and the Ines at 37mm. The deep ones are the Gal at 45mm, the Stella at 48mm and the Carlota at 49mm. For a single-vision lens, depth is a matter of taste. For a progressive lens it is a matter of room, because the change from distance to reading needs a set length of lens below the pupil. From about 40mm up there is room for almost any design; at 35mm to 36mm, ask the optician fitting your lenses which designs will work.

The Lisa, the Ines, the Stella and the Carlota are sunglasses and come with LAPIMA's own tinted lenses; the Stella's are yellow. Whether one can be reglazed with your prescription is a question for your optician before you order.

LAPIMA's history page says its colour charts come from Brazil's different biomes, and its design page names the density of the forests, the terracotta tones of dry earth, and the greens and blues of sky and sea. Some colour names are Portuguese. Abacate is Portuguese for avocado, and on the Alice and the Gal it is an olive green. Acai, on the Penelope, is a deep berry red, named after the açaí berry. Forest is a marbled green, Caramel a translucent orange-brown, and Havana a tortoise. Beside them are Black, a matte Natural Black on the Nara, and reds and greens on the Filipe and the Guga Petit.

A marbled colour such as Forest varies from one part of a sheet to the next, so where the marbling falls on the frame you receive may differ a little from the photograph. A solid or translucent colour varies far less.

We sell frames only. No prescription lenses, single-vision or progressive, are sold online. Your own optician fits the lenses and confirms, with your measurements and prescription, whether a frame suits the lens you need. A full acetate rim can hide more of a thick lens edge than a thin metal one, and a small eye size keeps a strong lens thinner at the edge; ask your optician how much either helps in your case. The lens guide explains what to bring.

Shipping within the US is free and insured, and every parcel is signed for. Returns are accepted within 7 days of delivery, with a 15% restocking fee, so check the numbers before you order. For a second opinion on size, send us the three numbers printed inside the arm of a pair that fits you through the contact page, and we will say which LAPIMA frames come close. Every LAPIMA frame online is on the LAPIMA page.