BL-24 - Flipbook - Page 66
ENTREPRENEURS
had 20:20 vision. My vision’s changed
so I now need them – and I’m hardly
going to wear anyone else’s designs.
Over the years I’ve been called a “mad
professor” and the “Willy Wonka of
eyewear”, both of which I take as a
huge compliment. I’ve had my share
of lucky breaks and crazy moments,
but I think the real secret of my
success is caring about every pair as
if it’s the 昀椀rst. Whatever I’m doing
and whoever it’s for, I still feel like
the same guy who once drew glasses
on the cover of Vogue and hoped that
someone, one day, might wear them.
Heston Blumenthal in a pair of Tom Davies glasses, accompanied by the designer himself
hairdryer and some socks to adjust
them. For another pair, I asked for
cooking oil and a pair of Marigolds
and ended up heating the frames in a
saucepan. Before I left, Ed asked me
to sign the wall in his studio. I spotted
Damien Hirst’s shark sketch next to
his name, so I couldn’t resist drawing
a pair of glasses next to mine.
Despite the high-pro昀椀le encounters,
there are plenty of moments that aren’t
glamorous. Designing can be hard
graft – hours spent tweaking a hinge,
reshaping a bridge, 昀椀xing a tiny 昀氀aw
that no one else might notice.
Running a factory means juggling
creative chaos with relentless detail:
production schedules, staff training,
suppliers, machines that go wrong
at the worst possible time. There are
days when the pressure gets too much.
But then someone puts on a pair of
glasses we’ve made. They look in
the mirror and suddenly their posture
changes, their con昀椀dence lifts – and I
remember why I started.
A great pair of glasses isn’t just about
seeing better, it’s about being seen
differently. It’s art that lives on your
face. When I 昀椀rst began, I used to
wear my own frames, even though I
Tom Davies and Ed Sheeran in Sloane Square
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BOISDALELIFE.COM
ISSUE 24
