Optical Family Wins Governor General’s Award

By Paddy Kamen

On November 3 2006 at Rideau Hall, father and son Georges and Sherif Laoun, were honoured for their support of the arts with the Ramon John Hnatyshyn award for voluntarism in the performing arts. Theirs is a story unique in the Canadian optical scene.

Georges is an optician who has enjoyed considerable success in Montreal. An immigrant from Egypt, Georges opened his first store in partnership with his nephew, upon arriving in Canada with his wife and three children in 1969. Trained as an optician in Egypt, Georges went back to school to obtain his Canadian registration. In 1990, he started business on his own, with his first store – Georges Laoun Opticien – on St-Denis street.

Today, there are two Georges Laoun stores, one on St- Denis street in the trendy plateau Mont-Royal section of the city and another in the Museum of Fine Arts on Sherbrooke street.

Georges and his wife Phina had one more child in Canada. Phina worked in the store part-time while raising the family and now all four children – Anne Marie, Daniel, Mylène and Sherif, are involved in the business, on either the retail or the distribution side through the company named after their parents – Georges et Phina.

This family has prospered through hard work and an ethic of giving back to the community. The eyeglass frames they sell are top quality and the service they provide is likewise high-end. The children each assumed a role in the business according to his or her talents and proclivities. Sherif brought with him a love of the arts.

“I studied literature at Carlton University and was also interested in painting and theatre. When I joined the family business it seemed natural to extend my love of the arts into our work,” he explains.

In 1990, Sherif, with the support of his siblings and parents, began showing the work of local artists in the windows of the store on St-Catherine’s street, which was at that time their sole location. “The goal was never to make money on it, but rather to use the space we had available to promote the work of artists. We never ask them to make a window around eyeglasses. Instead, the art is itself the point and purpose of the window display. We may put a few eyeglasses in with it but never in a way that conflicts with the art.”

Once Montreal’s art community saw that the Laouns were offering them a genuine opportunity to show their work in a commercial setting, requests for shows began pouring in. Today, Sherif Laoun, who manages the program, receives requests for shows from over 250 artists (including artistic groups like theatre and dance companies) each year. The fact that the Laoun’s also offer the art for sale and don’t take any commission certainly heightens their appeal to artists seeking a venue. In addition to the exhibitions, the family also provides small grants to arts organizations for work which never visits the stores. Sherif estimates that their total spending on the arts is in the range of $150,000 annually.

Every kind of art and craft has been exhibited in Georges Laoun Opticien, and the displays are not limited to just the windows. Crafts and jewelry may be found within eyeglass displays, sometimes intermingled with frames and sometimes on their own. Paintings have adorned the walls and hung from the ceilings. Sculpture has been displayed. Live theatre and dance has been performed from the window space, to both audiences on the street and in the store.

Sherif explains that he likes to show a mix of avant-garde and decorative art. “Because we’re not a gallery and we’re not in it to make money, we can afford to be eclectic and don’t need to stick to an ideology or create a certain image.”

Montreal is probably unique among Canadian cities in its openness to avant-garde art. At the time of this writing, a video installation is on display featuring nude men dancing and, according to Sherif, it raises nary an eyebrow from passersby, including mothers with young children. Sculptures and paintings of the human form have been displayed, as has cutting edge graffiti art and other provocative or not readily understood pieces.

Part of Sherif’s intention is that both the people who work in the store and those visiting become curious about the art. “Many on our staff, including my parents and siblings, have become more open to and interested in the arts since we’ve been exhibiting. We all have impressions – sometimes positive and sometimes negative – about what the artist is trying to do. It becomes a discussion point and adds to the richness of our lives. It is a learning process for me also and over the years I have come to know much more about the arts.”

Sherif doesn’t limit the exhibitions to professional artists. “Many people come to art later in life, when they have retired. So for every professional I also show a beginner. But the work is all high quality.”

Has the Laoun’s love of art hurt their business in any way? Sherif recounts that once a woman came into the store and proclaimed, “This is the worst art I have ever seen and I’m never coming back!” Despite this incident he is convinced that the art shows have, in fact, enhanced the business. “We have a very positive image in Montreal and many people come to us first because of that. People know we are involved in the arts and quite apart from all the other things that make our stores worth going to, there is a definite plus that accrues from our support of artistic endeavor. While it wasn’t a business strategy it has definitely helped us a lot.”

The invitation for the Laouns to open a store in the Museum of Fine Arts came as a direct result of their support of the Museum. “We often had window displays about their exhibitions and when they were closing their bookstore and wanted to rent out the space they invited us to open a Georges Laoun Opticien,” explains Sherif. “So we now have a store in this prestigious location and although we’re not snobbish about it we are definitely happy to be there and the artists we show love it.”

Both Georges and Sherif Laoun and indeed the whole family and staff of Georges Laoun Opticien and Georges et Phina portent des lunettes (distributor of Vanni, Munic Eyewear and Derapage), were thrilled with the announcement that they had won the Governor General’s Award. “It was very emotional, of course,” says Sherif. “We were not seeking thanks for this work but we are quite happy and indeed very touched. There is nothing ordinary about it.”