“It’s indescribable to feel that with a little you can change someone’s life”

Passionate about travel and the world of optics, Ana Carvalho e Vitor Matins are inspirational people, who combine their love of travel to help others. In a conversation with OpticaPro, the owners of Ótica Maxivisão told us about their adventures and missions together, beside the brand’s history. Despite the Coronavirus pandemic having postponed some dreams, you can be sure of one thing: it has not stopped them.

“May our view of the world be yours”. Are seeing and travelling fundamental parts of your world?

They effectively are. We do not think we could conceive of the world any other way. Seeing is fundamental for everyone. Being travellers allows us to broaden our horizons and see other realities, which we are unaware of if we do not get out of our “bubble”.

2003 marks the beginning of many adventures together. Was your passion for travelling a catalyser to open the opticians?

It could have been, but that was not the case as we had been in the optics business since 1999. Travelling is something that went hand in hand, but individually.

What is the history of Maxivision?

Maxivision opened its doors to the public for the first time in August 2005 in Condeixa-a-Nova. Two years later in December 2006, we opened our second ship, this time in Vila Nova de Poiares. Always with the mission of contributing to visual well-being and providing customers with the maximum vision possible, we are resisting these years of crisis that the country is going through and adapting ourselves to the new realities. We have always decided to invest in smaller places, where we feel we are really needed, thus avoiding the big centres where opticians spring up like mushrooms. With this situation in hand, we took a chance in opening a new shop in São Pedro de Alva, in July 2014. From this moment, our position in the market completely changed. With a view to modernisation, in April 2018 we took the decision to change our corporate image and invest in new partners and new brands. Aware of our social responsibility to the community and the world around us, we have been involved in projects of a social nature for several years, always bearing in mind that the company would have to reach maturity and achieve sufficient foundations for them to be successfully implemented. It is by being focused on our customers that we continue to work daily, but also with a broader social vision, so that we can continue our project of differentiation in the market. It was already with that in mind that we decided, in Vila Nova de Poiares, to invest in a more central place and with more options for the customer.

Full interview in OPTICAPRO 214.