of the Lente Indiscreta Podcast:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nJos\u00e9 Maria told hosts Marco Pombo and Miguel Alves how it all began: \u201cI started working for the company when I was 15. I knew nothing, but I learned the craft little by little. At 18, I ended up running the factory following the death of one of the former partners. Era um mi\u00fado a comandar uma equipa de quase 40 pessoas.\u201d I was just a kid leading a team of nearly 40 people.\u201d When asked whether employees accepted someone so young in charge, Jos\u00e9 Maria replied that he knew how to foster a strong team spirit. \u201cIn those days, men liked to go for a quick drink after work before heading home. And that\u2019s what we did religiously. That\u2019s what you\u2019d now call team spirit.\u201d (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the 1970s, and Jos\u00e9 Maria recalled that back then there were 14 eyewear frame factories in Portugal, while today only the historic Sociel remains. \u201cProduction and sales were booming, China had not yet taken over the market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At one point, after a disagreement with his boss, he decided to leave Sociel, but eventually returned \u201chome\u201d and bought 40% of the company together with his brother. \u201cA year later, the boss sold us his share (60%), a purchase that truly paid off.\u201d Manuela Rodrigues supported her husband\u2019s decision, even though they were still very young at the time. \u201cI was 22 and he was 28. But how could I not encourage him to take this step? His passion was (and still is) optics, and Sociel was his other daughter, since we already had our little girl by then.\u201d Jos\u00e9 Maria acrescenta, emocionado, que a Sociel faz parte da sua vida. In fact, \u201cSociel is my life, it is inseparable from who I am. Every day I go to the factory and arrive before 9 am, except when I have to travel to trade fairs abroad or when I\u2019m on holiday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEntering Sociel is like going to Venice\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThose are the words of Marco Pombo, who explained: \u201cVenice is one of those cities that makes you feel like you\u2019re inside a movie. And entering Sociel is like traveling through time, arriving in a peculiar space\u2026 every machine, every tool, every artisanal process\u2026 it\u2019s all very beautiful and special. At Sociel, every wall tells and breathes the history of optics.\u201d Jos\u00e9 Maria even noted that they frequently receive clients and others interested in learning this craft or simply visiting the factory, as if it were a museum. Manuela added that her husband takes genuine pleasure in showcasing his work, helping those who want to learn the craft, and sharing his knowledge. \u201cI\u2019ve nothing to lose, only to gain,\u201d he admits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With clients in all corners of the world, they say that nowadays they no longer produce as many pieces per day, but each frame is unique and handmade, sometimes taking up to five days to complete. \u201cMaking glasses is an art form, it\u2019s like creating jewelry. You can\u2019t compare it to mass-produced Asian products,\u201d they stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The optics market in Portugal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nOver the course of his career, Jos\u00e9 Maria went through many phases. He saw optical groups emerge and foreign ones establish themselves in Portugal; he saw some opticians sell at high prices and focus on luxury, while others positioned themselves as low-cost. \u201cI believe opticians are somewhat lost at the moment. The market is overcrowded our country is not large enough to support so many optical shops, 2,400 shops for 10 million people is too many.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near the end of the conversation, Sociel\u2019s founder confided that he was already thinking about succession, to ensure that, upon his retirement, the \u201capple of his eye\u201d would be left in good hands. \u201cOur daughter works in another field, and although she helps us a lot with the company, she probably won\u2019t take over the business. Our goal is to sell, we\u2019re open to offers (laughs). Either way, before fully stepping back, I\u2019d like to stay involved, not as the owner, of course, but as a mentor and guide. In other words, a gradual transition so that the project continues to set an example in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A family man \u2013 passionate about his wife, daughter, and grandchildren, Jos\u00e9 Maria never forgets his friends and greatly misses his brother, his right-hand man at Sociel since forever. A highly respected man in the optics industry, who follows his principles with the humility and perseverance that characterize him. A happy man who says he doesn’t believe in luck. “You have to chase after it, luck is made and it takes a lot of work!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u00d3pticaPro team expresses its deepest condolences for the loss of Jos\u00e9 Maria Rodrigues, whose dedication and wisdom inspired generations and left an unforgettable legacy in the history of the profession. Farewell!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last summer, we listened to Jos\u00e9 Maria Rodrigues, alongside his wife, Manuela Rodrigues, on the Lente Indiscreta Podcast. It was perhaps one of the last conversations we had the privilege of witnessing before his passing. The founder of Sociel passed away today at 2:00 pm, leaving the Portuguese optical sector undeniably poorer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1635,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opticapro.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opticapro.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opticapro.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opticapro.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opticapro.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.opticapro.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1636,"href":"https:\/\/www.opticapro.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions\/1636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opticapro.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opticapro.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opticapro.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opticapro.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}