Neubau makes the frame sustainable.

Neubau is a lesson in sustainable material as the identity. Launched in 2016 as a design-led, sustainability-focused brand of the Austrian Silhouette Group, it built its identity around bio-based materials — most of all a plant-based acetate.

Its identity is the bio-acetate frame. Neubau makes optical frames and sunglasses in “naturalPX,” a bio-based acetate derived largely from castor-oil-plant seed oil, plus a fully bio-based 3D-printed line — modern, urban frames named after cultural figures. Sustainability, made design-led. A frame grown, not just made.

(Honest notes: Neubau launched in 2016 and is a sub-brand of the Silhouette Group — the Austrian eyewear company headquartered in Linz — so it is a house brand rather than an independent start-up, with no separate founder. Its signature material is “naturalPX,” a bio-based acetate (reported as around 65% renewable, from castor-oil-plant seed oil), alongside a fully bio-based “natural3D” 3D-printed line. It is made in Austria (Silhouette’s Linz production). Its name references Vienna’s Neubau creative district, and its frames are named after cultural figures (such as “Sigmund” for Freud); we use sourced names only. There’s no official brand hex, and we reproduce no frame or logo — these tones are an unofficial interpretation. This is design commentary and does not promote any product.)

Neubau lives in a bio-green palette. Click a swatch to copy the hex.

Neubau’s identity is modern, urban and sustainable — a bio green, an ink, a clay, an ochre, and a chalk. The palette leans bio green — the register of plant-based acetate and eco-minded design. It signals sustainability and craft rather than novelty. The honest caveat: with no published brand hex, these tones are an original, unofficial interpretation, not first-party values.

The lesson is a bio-green palette signals a material-led eyewear brand. Neubau’s world is a modern, eco-material object. For designers, it is a reminder that a material story — a bio-based acetate, a bio-based 3D print — can be the whole identity, and that a big group can launch a design-led, sustainable brand credibly by manufacturing it itself. Because a mid green can fail as small text, keep type dark and let the colour live in the accents, palette and band. The takeaways: lead with the material; make it credibly; name with meaning; and treat any single hex as unofficial.

The register is a modern sans — urban, clean, contemporary.

Neubau’s identity carries an urban, clean, contemporary spirit — a modern, eco-material object. A slightly technical grotesque sans captures the mood: it is contemporary and precise, the register of a design-led brand. Set in a bio-green palette, the modern sans feels urban and clean — exactly the personality Neubau carries. It is contemporary rather than heritage, mirroring a bio-acetate frame. (Neubau’s real frames and wordmark are works we describe but do not reproduce, and the exact typeface is not ours to use.) Because it is not ours to use, the honest description is “a modern sans spirit,” shown here in a stand-in. The type behaves like the brand: urban, clean and contemporary.

Neubau stands for the bio-acetate frame.

Neubau is a lesson in making a material the identity. A bio-green palette, a modern sans and a bio-acetate frame make sustainable material the whole brand — modern, urban, sustainable. The material is the differentiator. The differentiator is a bio-based acetate (and a bio-based 3D print) that the brand can actually manufacture.

Put to work, the identity is a material claim backed by capability. A designer building in this spirit would make the material the headline — naming it, explaining it, building the palette and story around it — but only if the brand can genuinely produce it, which is where belonging to a manufacturer helps. The lesson Neubau teaches is that sustainability is most convincing when it is engineered, not decorated: a parent factory in Linz lets it develop real bio-based materials rather than greenwash, and naming frames after cultural figures gives an eco brand cultural depth rather than a purely worthy tone. The material is both the ethics and the aesthetic.

For designers and brand-builders, Neubau offers a clear takeaway: make the material the headline — and make it real. The lessons: lead with the material; make it credibly; name with meaning; and be honest about the story. It is also a reminder to stay accurate: it launched in 2016 as a Silhouette Group brand, its signature is naturalPX bio-acetate, and it is made in Austria — the palette here is an unofficial interpretation. And it is a reminder that a big manufacturer can out-sustain a start-up: developing a genuine bio-based acetate and a bio-based 3D-print process takes materials science and a factory, which is precisely what a small independent usually cannot muster — so here, belonging to Silhouette is the credibility, not a caveat to hide. Neubau made the bio-acetate frame the brand — proof that a material can be the difference.

Keep Neubau’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.