BL-24 - Flipbook - Page 65
ENTREPRENEURS
on handbags, watches or shoes, but
glasses are the 昀椀rst item people see
when they meet us.
So why not wear something that
looks and feels fabulous? A client
once asked why she should buy one
of my most expensive frames. I said:
“Happy Christmas to me?” She bought
them on the spot. I even have a gold
business card. When I gave one to
Stephen Fry, he looked at it, sighed
and said, “Damn it. I’ve just given
up cocaine. It would have been very
useful.”
Carrie Fisher once led me to
her bedroom and I said:
“Carrie, I’m a married man.”
She shot back: “What the
fuck’s that got to do with it?”
My factory is like an adult playground.
We’ve held Sega Rally competitions
on the mezzanine and barbecues on
the rooftop. I make glasses from pretty
much any material. One day I bought
a fragment that hit Mars 3,000 years
ago, ground it into powder and turned
it into sunglasses. We auctioned them
for £3,000 for the fantastic eye charity
Orbis. That’s the thing about design:
it’s not really about product, it’s about
curiosity. What happens if I mix art,
science and silliness together? Usually
something wonderful.
My 昀椀rst (at that point unof昀椀cial)
celebrity client was Richard Branson.
I’d been chatting nervously to a Virgin
check-in assistant about her badly
昀椀tting glasses and offered to make
her a new pair. I wasn’t 昀椀shing for an
upgrade, though I did get promoted
to Upper Class. To thank Richard, I
thought I’d design him some frames.
Since I didn’t know him, I needed his
measurements, so I climbed under
the rope at Madame Tussauds and
measured his waxwork.
Then came the call from a costume
designer looking for glasses for
Rowan Atkinson in the 昀椀lm Keeping
Angelina Jolie in The Tourist (2010), wearing bespoke sunglasses designed by Tom
Davies
Mum. I made him a pair and suddenly
Hollywood started knocking. I’m
proud to say Angelina Jolie in The
Tourist, Henry Cavill in Superman
v Batman, Brad Pitt in Allied, Tom
Holland in Spider-Man are all wearing
my creations. One day, driving up
the M1, I got a call: “I’m on set
with Angelina. She doesn’t like the
Ferragamo glasses. She wants yours.
We need them in Venice in four days.”
I nearly spun the car around there and
then.
There have been so many surreal
moments. During Cruella, costume
legend Jenny Beavan told me that
Emma Thompson’s assistant was
described in the script as “the bestlooking man in London” and needed
the perfect glasses. “When’s it
昀椀lming?” I asked. “This afternoon.”
So I took of my own pair and gave
them to him. Later I saw the stills and
thought: “Damn. He looks better than
me... in my glasses.”
One of my favourite and most loyal
customers was the late Carrie Fisher.
My store manager called one day:
“Tom, Carrie Fisher is in the shop.”
My manager knew I was a massive
Star Wars fan. And I knew I had to
drop everything and get to the store.
Within 昀椀ve minutes of meeting
Carrie, she declared me “Mr Fisher” –
apparently an honour reserved for very
few. We became close friends.
Though not as close as perhaps she
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ISSUE 24
wanted. She once led me to her
bedroom and I said: “Carrie, I’m a
married man.” She shot back: “What
the fuck’s that got to do with it?” She
became one of my most loyal clients:
she bought 30 pairs a year, always
insisted on paying, and even took me
to the Star Wars: The Force Awakens
premiere.
Loyal client and close friend, Carrie
Fisher with Tom Davies
Heston Blumenthal is another longterm client and friend. I once swapped
him a pair of sunglasses for one of his
prototype microwaves after we’d both
had rather a heavy night. I remember
昀氀agging down a taxi with a high-tech
microwave under my arm.
Ed Sheeran, on the other hand, found
me on Google. When I went to 昀椀t his
昀椀rst horn-rimmed frames, my assistant
forgot my tools. So Ed’s wife kindly
leant me her hair straighteners, a
