Savile Row – Handmade in England

At Mido, we met with Magnus and Christian from Savile Row, the tailored-made brand from England with a huge heritage. Their factory, Algha Works, still uses machinery dating back to its origins in 1898. Their frame makers are passionate about creating unique pieces that never go out of style.

Hundred of processes, days of work and years of experience are evident in each tailor-made frame. Like its namesake, Savile Row’s handcrafted frames must be felt to be experienced. The frames pay homage to a rich history while attracting a young discerning clientele. Savile Row is tailored eyewear at its finest.

The raw material from which their frames are made is silver, around which a skin of 18Kt gold is bonded. Then reduced through many stages, annealing to correct sizes, hardness and surface finish. The material is then made into the required components by swaging, pressing, bending, notching, crimping, burnishing or otherwise forming, making sure that the gold skin is folded around all corners.

[URIS id=10107]

After the components are manufactured they are soldered together with either 7 or 9-carat gold solder. The fully assembled frame is then cleaned, burnished and receives plating of 24Kt gold, before being set up on the adjustment tables. Rolled gold was invented by jewellers, as a technique that means the gold moves with the base metal, in one uniform material. The thickness of the gold is up to 6 times that of gold plated frames.

[URIS id=10115]

Savile Row frames attract an iconic celebrity following, including Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, John Lennon, Denzel Washington, Steve Jobs, Audrey Hepburn, Rhianna and even Harry Potter.

For more information, visit their website or check out their booth at LOFT Eyewear Shows in New York this weekend!

Author: maarten weidemaAfter being a freelance eyewear designer since 1999, TEF founder Maarten Weidema now solely writes about his fellow designers in the optical industry. His passionate mission is to promote independent eyewear to the international optical arena, backed up by a large group of bloggers and journalists from all over the world. He has recently been awarded "International Optical Personality of the Year", "Leading Innovator in Optical Social Media Marketing", "Social Media Marketing Company of the Year" and received several awards for "best eyewear blog" for his efforts to promote independent eyewear to a community of 517.000 eyecare professionals.

Twitter Facebook Linkedin