Cutler & Gross

Cutler & Gross is a British luxury eyewear brand established in London in 1969 by opticians Graham Cutler and Tony Gross. The business developed from the founders’ professional background in optometry and their interest in treating spectacles as objects of style as well as instruments of vision. Rather than limiting eyewear to discreet corrective products, Cutler & Gross helped advance the idea that frames could be expressive fashion accessories, with strong silhouettes, unusual proportions, carefully selected colours, and an identifiable design character. Cutler and Gross first met while studying optometry at Northampton College in the early 1960s. After founding the brand in 1969, they opened an optician’s office in London’s Knightsbridge district in 1971. The practice stocked handmade bespoke frames and became an important setting for the company’s early development. Its approach combined optical expertise with a highly individual, design-led retail experience. This positioning distinguished the brand from conventional opticians and helped establish its reputation among fashion-conscious clients. The company initially became particularly associated with sunglasses, but its range later expanded to include optical frames intended for prescription lenses. Its designs are presented as unisex as well as in styles intended for different men’s and women’s preferences, with attention to face shape and varied lifestyles. The brand’s product identity is built around artisanal construction, bold acetate work, sculptural shapes, and a balance between archival references and contemporary fashion. Although founded in Britain, Cutler & Gross has long relied on Italian manufacturing. Its eyewear is designed and made at the brand’s factory in Domegge di Cadore, an Italian area with a strong history of eyewear production. This British design heritage combined with Italian frame-making supports the brand’s luxury positioning. The company has operated boutiques beyond its Knightsbridge flagship, including locations associated with Spitalfields, Bath, Toronto, and New York. Cutler & Gross has maintained an unusually close relationship with fashion, editorial styling, film, and television. Its frames have appeared in fashion magazines and on catwalks, and the brand has collaborated with designers and labels including Erdem, Maison Margiela, Giles Deacon, Comme des Garçons, Mulberry, and The Great Frog. It has also worked with or been associated with projects involving Victoria Beckham, Alberta Ferretti, Thomas Tait, and other fashion figures. These collaborations have allowed the company to explore limited-edition shapes and materials while reinforcing its position at the intersection of eyewear, accessories, and contemporary fashion. The brand’s cultural visibility has also been supported by screen appearances. Cutler & Gross eyewear has been worn or featured in films including Notting Hill, Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Counsellor, and Knives Out 2. Public figures associated with the frames include Madonna, Javier Bardem, Bill Nighy, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Kate Moss, and Manolo Blahnik, although these associations do not necessarily indicate formal commercial endorsements. In addition to retail and product development, the company has pursued editorial and exhibition projects. It presented past and current collections at Selfridges London in 2008, received a Best Accessory award at the UK Fashion Export Awards in 2009, appeared on the cover of Graham Pullin’s Design Meets Disability in 2010, and launched a biannual magazine in 2011. These activities reflect a broader brand strategy that treats eyewear as a subject of design culture, not merely a seasonal accessory. Cutler & Gross remains positioned as an independent-minded British luxury eyewear name with international retail and cultural reach.

Cutler & Gross began in London in 1969 when opticians Graham Cutler and Tony Gross established a business that treated eyewear as both a professional optical product and a form of fashion design. The founders had met at Northampton College while studying optometry in the early 1960s. Their training gave the company a technical foundation, while their retail and design interests encouraged a more expressive approach to frames than was typical of traditional opticians. A major early step came in 1971, when the partners opened an optician’s office in Knightsbridge. The office stocked handmade bespoke frames and became the setting in which the brand’s design-led identity took shape. Rather than presenting spectacles solely as corrective equipment, Cutler & Gross emphasized shape, colour, proportion, and the relationship between frames and the wearer’s face. This helped establish the company as an early advocate for fashionable eyewear. The brand initially gained particular recognition for sunglasses. Over time, it broadened its business to include optical frames for prescription lenses, while retaining a strong emphasis on design and craftsmanship. Its products have been offered in unisex forms as well as styles directed toward different men’s and women’s tastes. The range has been described as intended to suit different lifestyles and face shapes, combining practical optical use with a visually distinctive luxury-accessory identity. Manufacturing became closely associated with Italy. Cutler & Gross eyewear is designed and produced at the company’s factory in Domegge di Cadore, an important center of Italian eyewear manufacturing. This arrangement gives the brand a hybrid identity: British in origin and design culture, but dependent on Italian specialist production for its handmade frames. The Italian atelier has also supported the development of limited editions and collaborations requiring unusual construction, surface treatments, or decorative details. The company’s retail presence expanded beyond its Knightsbridge flagship. Boutiques have been associated with London’s Spitalfields district and the city of Bath, as well as Toronto and New York. These locations reflect an effort to place the brand in design-conscious urban markets while preserving the specialist, boutique character of its original optician’s practice. From the late 2000s onward, Cutler & Gross became increasingly visible through fashion partnerships. A 2008 presentation at Selfridges London displayed new and archival collections. The company collaborated with Mulberry in 2008, drawing on historical Cutler & Gross styles ranging from bold colour treatments to rock-and-roll-inspired forms. Partnerships with Comme des Garçons, Erdem, Giles Deacon, and Maison Margiela followed. The Maison Margiela project included experimental designs such as deliberately ill-proportioned aviator forms and large wraparound constructions. The Erdem project used vivid colour and a 1960s-influenced round silhouette, while the Giles Deacon work reinterpreted cat-eye sunglasses with mirrored lenses. Cutler & Gross also appeared in numerous runway presentations during the late 2000s and early 2010s, including shows connected with Erdem, Giles Deacon, Daks, Osman Yousefzada, b Store, Emanuel Ungaro, Cacharel, Maison Martin Margiela, Holly Fulton, Richard Nicoll, Twenty8Twelve, and Timo Weiland. These appearances reinforced the company’s role as a styling and fashion object rather than a conventional optical supplier. The brand developed an editorial and cultural program alongside its commercial activities. In 2009 it received a Best Accessory award at the UK Fashion Export Awards. In 2010, its eyewear appeared on the cover of Graham Pullin’s Design Meets Disability, a book dedicated to the founders and concerned with the relationship between design and disability. In 2011 the company launched a biannual magazine, providing another platform for its visual identity, archive, and design perspective. Film and television further broadened the brand’s recognition. Its frames have been featured in productions including Notting Hill, The Counsellor, Kingsman: The Secret Service, and Knives Out 2. The eyewear has also been associated with public figures such as Madonna, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Kate Moss, Javier Bardem, Bill Nighy, and Manolo Blahnik. These appearances contributed to a reputation for strong, recognizable frames with links to fashion, celebrity styling, and screen costume. By the 2020s, the brand continued to combine boutique retail, handmade Italian production, archival references, and selective collaborations. A further partnership with The Great Frog was reported for 2024, using metalwork details in sterling silver and 24-carat gold. Across its history, Cutler & Gross has remained defined by the same central proposition: luxury eyewear in which optical function, handmade construction, and fashion-led design are inseparable.

• 2024

  Third The Great Frog collaboration announced

  [1]Cutler and Grossen.wikipedia.org

  The brand prepares a third collaboration with The Great Frog, combining handmade Italian eyewear with precious-metal decorative work.

• 2011

  Biannual magazine launches

  [1]Cutler and Grossen.wikipedia.org

  The company launches a biannual magazine supporting its editorial and design-led identity.

• 2010

  Design Meets Disability cover appearance

  [1]Cutler and Grossen.wikipedia.org

  Cutler & Gross eyewear appears on the cover of Graham Pullin’s Design Meets Disability, a work dedicated to the brand’s founders.

• 2009

  Best Accessory recognition

  [1]Cutler and Grossen.wikipedia.org

  The brand receives a Best Accessory award at the UK Fashion Export Awards.

• 2008

  Collection presentation at Selfridges London

  [1]Cutler and Grossen.wikipedia.org

  Cutler & Gross presents new and archival collections at Selfridges London and collaborates with Mulberry on eyewear.

• 1971

  First Knightsbridge optician’s office opens

  [1]Cutler and Grossen.wikipedia.org

  The founders open a Knightsbridge practice stocking handmade bespoke frames and developing the brand’s fashion-oriented optical proposition.

• 1969

  Cutler & Gross is founded in London

  [1]Cutler and Grossen.wikipedia.org

  Opticians Graham Cutler and Tony Gross establish the British eyewear business after meeting during their optometry studies.

British luxury eyewear centered on handmade construction, distinctive design, optical expertise, and collaborations with fashion and accessories labels.

• Prescription eyewear

  Optical frames

  Cutler & Gross optical frames are designed for prescription lenses while retaining the brand’s emphasis on distinctive shape, proportion, colour, and handcrafted construction. The range developed from the company’s bespoke optician origins and includes unisex designs as well as styles intended for different men’s and women’s preferences. The frames are made at the company’s Italian facility in Domegge di Cadore.

• Sun eyewear

  Sunglasses

  Sunglasses were central to the brand’s early identity and remain a major product category. Designs range from bold acetate and retro-inspired shapes to experimental aviators, cat-eye forms, and wraparound constructions developed through fashion collaborations. The sunglasses have appeared in runway styling, editorial photography, film, and television, helping make them one of the company’s most visible offerings.

• Luxury and special projects

  Bespoke and limited-edition frames

  Bespoke and limited-edition frames extend the company’s original handmade optician model. These products may draw on the Cutler & Gross archive or introduce unusual construction, colours, lens treatments, and decorative finishes. The category also includes special projects made with fashion and accessories partners, giving the brand room to experiment outside its core seasonal assortment.

• 2024The Great Frog collaboration

  International luxury markets

  Cutler & Gross prepared a third collaboration with British rock-and-roll jeweller The Great Frog. The proposed frames were to be handmade in Italy and embellished with sterling silver and 24-carat gold details.

  Outcome. The project continued a collaboration format combining Cutler & Gross eyewear with specialist jewellery craftsmanship.

  Source
• 2010Maison Margiela Wrong Size and Anatomic

  International fashion markets

  The Maison Margiela collaboration introduced two experimental lines. Wrong Size deconstructed and reconstructed aviator-style frames with intentionally ill-fitting lenses, while Anatomic used oversized futuristic wraparound forms designed to fit around the wearer.

  Outcome. The collection expanded the brand’s design vocabulary through deliberately unconventional proportions and constructions.

  Source
• 2010Giles Deacon cat-eye collaboration

  International fashion markets

  Cutler & Gross collaborated with Giles Deacon on retro-inspired cat-eye sunglasses, adding mirrored lenses to update the historical silhouette.

  Outcome. The project connected the company’s archival and retro references with a contemporary runway aesthetic.

  Source
• 2009Erdem Spring/Summer 2010 collaboration

  International fashion markets

  Cutler & Gross worked with Erdem on sunglasses inspired by a Japanese fisherwoman and a dramatic beach setting. The designs combined 1960s-style round frames with vivid colour, dark grounds, tortoiseshell, lace effects, neutral stone, and a customized Kyoto print.

  Outcome. The collaboration placed the brand’s eyewear within Erdem’s runway and fashion-design narrative.

  Source
• 2009Comme des Garçons Future of Black

  International fashion markets

  The second Cutler & Gross collaboration with Comme des Garçons produced a three-design limited edition using very dark grey lenses and an all-black visual treatment, packaged in a case covered with Comme des Garçons fabric.

  Outcome. The project reinforced the brand’s association with conceptual, limited-edition fashion accessories.

  Source
• 2008Selfridges collection presentation

  United Kingdom

  Cutler & Gross presented new and past collections at Selfridges London, using a major department-store setting to communicate the relationship between its archive, current designs, and luxury retail.

  Outcome. The presentation increased the visibility of the brand’s historical and contemporary collections within London’s fashion retail environment.

  Source

• 2011

  Launch of a biannual magazineOther

  Background

  Cutler & Gross had developed visibility through fashion editorials, runway appearances, and design projects.

  Action taken

  The company launched a biannual magazine to communicate its visual world and broader design perspective.

  Aftermath

  The publication strengthened the brand’s editorial identity alongside its product and retail activities.

  Source

• 2008

  Expansion through fashion-label collaborationsStrategy

  Background

  The brand sought to connect its eyewear archive and handmade production with broader fashion and accessories audiences.

  Action taken

  It collaborated with Mulberry and presented collections at Selfridges London, followed by additional designer partnerships.

  Aftermath

  Collaboration became a recurring mechanism for experimenting with shapes, materials, and limited-edition positioning.

  Source

• 1971

  Establishment of a bespoke, fashion-led optician practiceStrategy

  Background

  The founders’ first London office stocked handmade bespoke frames at a time when eyewear was commonly approached primarily as a corrective product.

  Action taken

  Cutler & Gross combined optometric expertise with a design-focused retail environment and treated frames as visible fashion objects.

  Aftermath

  This approach became the foundation of the brand’s luxury positioning and its reputation for pioneering fashionable eyewear.

  Source

1. 1Cutler and Grossen.wikipedia.org