Jacobus is an optical dispenser and practice owner in the coastal town of Forster in the Mid North Coast region of NSW. He completed his Certificate IV in Optical Dispensing in 2018, but his involvement with spectacles, started much earlier than this - dating back to 1983 with his first set of glasses and contact lenses. Jacobus has experienced the life changing impact of optical appliances firsthand, with his childhood glasses allowing him to read the board in class and play the sports he loved.

His optical journey continued when he married an optometrist and was a test subject and sounding board as his wife progressed through various levels of training and certifications. This is where Jacobus found his genuine passion for optics.

Working life before optics, was in IT where the position of a misplaced bracket, or the exact port a cable is plugged in to, can have detrimental impacts on the outcome. Just like in optics, where mixing up minus cyl and plus cyl, or base down instead of base up prism, could lead to catastrophic results! Through his experience in both industries, Jacobus believes that continued attention to detail, and caring about a millimetre is what sets great dispensers apart from the “she’ll be right” ones. He is passionate about the role of education and continued learning for optical dispensers and would like to see each and every one of us work on our skills and knowledge on an ongoing basis so that great service and delighted clients become the norm in our industry.