Wayfarers… aviators… wraparounds… when we talk about glasses, we usually talk about their shape, but the material they’re made from is often just as important, changing not just how the frames look, but how they feel on your face. Which is why we’re writing here about metal frames.
Sleek and refined, yet tough and durable, metal frames—in whatever shape they take—tend to have a honed and sophisticated look to them that we’re big fans of. While acetate frames are often bold and chunky, the properties titanium, aluminum and stainless steel mean that they are ideal for neat and precise wireframe constructions.
A very short history of metal glasses
Before we get into our favourite metal frames, it’s probably worth running through the history stuff a little bit. It’s generally agreed that the first recorded examples of glasses were what were known as ‘reading stones’ a few years back in the ninth century. Created for monks who spent countless hours reading dusty scrolls in candle-lit libraries, these were basically polished quartz stones which worked more like magnifying glasses than anything close to the sleek frames of today.
A portrait of French friar, Hugh of Saint-Cher, by Tommaso da Modena (1352). Supposedly one of the first pictures of a person wearing glasses!
By the 13th century things had advanced a bit—with leather-housed lenses replacing the clunky stones—but still, these early specs were super rare. The arrival of the printing press in the 15th century changed that—suddenly reading wasn’t just the preserve of the intellectual elite—and as more and more people learned to read, more and more people needed glasses to help see all those fancy words. That said, glasses were still basic, clunky items which the reader had to balance on their nose (or in some more elaborate cases, hook into their wig).
Then along came a chap named Edward Scarlett. Perhaps the godfather of modern eyewear, this London optician revolutionised the way the world is seen in the early 18th century with the seemingly simple (but at the time completely ground-shattering) idea of adding arms to his glasses so they could be fixed firmly to the wearer’s head. Made from iron or steel, these ‘temples’ as they came to be called brought glasses out of the dark reading rooms and into the street thanks to their clever hands free design.
Not only was this a huge step forward in terms of function, but it was a giant leap for eyewear fashion too—as more and more ornate designs featuring intricate displays of metalwork (sometimes in gold) meant even those with 20/20 vision wanted a piece of the action, with a good pair of spectacles serving as wearable shorthand for a high IQ—the 18th century equivalent of an artfully-scuffed Sartre paperback in your back pocket.
Metal glasses as we know them today
Now should be the bit where we say something like, “Since then, a lot has changed for metal framed spectacles,” but in a way, it hasn’t. Alright, no ones making glasses out of iron anymore (as far as we know) and modern frames are a bit more polished than their 18th century counterparts, but the general formula for metal eyewear has kind of remained the same; two lenses, two arms, a balanced shape and the best quality metal you can find. What more do you really need?
Which brings us nicely to Coblens, a German brand who are deft hands at crafting titanium eyewear. Used on everything from aeroplane parts to high-end bicycle components, titanium is renowned for its strength-to-weight ratio and its hypoallergenic nature, which makes it ideal for crafting sleek, long-lasting frames that barely tip the scales… put away the Sabbath patches, this ain’t heavy metal.
Designs like the Flugzeit and the Autotelefon are a perfect example of what we’re on about here. These wireframe wonders are true minimal masterpieces that prove that if you get the shape and material right, then no gimmicks are needed.
Jacques Marie Mage are another titanium fanatic—but the French designer, Jerome Mage, takes a slightly different approach. Applying a jeweller's flourish to the eyewear world, he combines this hard-wearing metal with luxurious details (like that ultra-intricate ‘cigar-holder’ brow bar on the Hunter S. Thompson inspired Duke frames) to make supremely sophisticated shades.
You know how you can listen to certain albums time and time again, and you’ll still hear something new on every spin? Well, that’s kind of what Jacques Marie Mage’s metal frames are like—with layer upon layer of cleverly considered details hidden in his frames. Take the Admiral Sun frames, for instance—inspired by 70s muscle cars, they’ve got the bold lines of a ‘72 Dodge Challenger, with two-tone titanium (and those really nice hairline engraved temples) giving them a suitably souped-up feel.
We’re big fans of combination frames too—where metal is used with another material to create what art critics might call a ‘harmonious juxtaposition’. Garrett Leight has got a real knack for this—like on his Oakwood frames, where he combines gold contour stainless steel with tortoiseshell acetate to make a particularly dignified pair of browline sunglasses that tick two boxes at the same time. Think of them like sweet and salty popcorn… for your eyes.
And for those who live in the future, there’s Innerraum—the unique range of eyewear from Berlin’s Kuboraum that recontextualises parts from other industries to create shades like none we’ve seen before. “If William Gibson made glasses,” is kind of the vibe here—combining a cyberpunk aesthetic with Kuboraum’s renowned attention to detail.
Their O20 frames take the classic aviator design and inject a hearty bit of sci-fi flavour into the proceedings, while the OJ7 shades look straight out of mix Matrix-ready rectangular frames with titanium nose pads for a masterclass in style and substance.
As you can see, the world of metal frames contains multitudes. From the timeless to the technical, and everything in between, it’s the perfect material for innovative eyewear that catches the magpie’s eye.
See our full range of metal glasses and sunglasses.
