THE FULL STORY
In 1919, Phillip Oliver Goldsmith was working as a commercial salesman for Raphael’s, a popular optical firm in London. The glasses he sold were functional and practical, serving purely as a medical device to his patients. He knew things could be different and set off on his own to create a new wave of eyewear where functionality and fashion worked hand in hand.
This is where it all started.
PASSION & FASHION
Oliver Goldsmith is a British heritage brand with nearly 100 years of experience in eyewear design and innovation. With four generations of knowledge behind us, we continue to make some of the most beautiful eyewear in the world. Eyewear that pushes the boundaries of expectation, self-expression and individuality.
In 1926 Philip Oilver Goldsmith stood at the door of his first mobile showroom presenting his latest designs to the London public. His frames were made mostly from metal, since this was the only material readily available, apart from real tortoiseshell, which was expensive, brittle and difficult to work with. Fuelled by his passion to find new ways to revolutionise the eyewear industry, he came across a local button factory who were using a ground-breaking raw material, coloured plastic.
A few sheets of this radical new material were purchased, Philip returned to his workshop, emerging several weeks later with the first ever colourful spectacle frames. These historical artefacts are now kept at The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, in the History of Fashion.