By Breanna Benz

DYNAMIC DISPENSING

WHO
Cutler and Gross

LOCATION
New York, N.Y.

Number of employees 6

Website
cutlerandgross.com

20/20 take
Sleek British lineage and handmade frames make a bold brand statement.

In 1969, the first Cutler and Gross shop was established by Graham Cutler and Tony Gross in London. The two Northampton College classmates drew business consulting with clients at the store’s street level and handcrafting their own bespoke eyewear in a work space above. By 1982, the gold foil logo’s standards were solidified, showing at Paris Fashion Week and escalating to cult British classic on the faces of celebrities like Michael Caine and Elton John, having already helped make cinematic history in movies such as “Some Like It Hot.” In its most recent chapter, Cutler and Gross has opened its first flagship store in the U.S. in 2013, officially tipping its hat to the American market and bringing the Brit brand to six locations worldwide.

I descended into the sleek Cutler and Gross retail space just below street level on the still cobblestoned Mercer Street in Manhattan’s Soho district. On standby to greet me is Arturo Vale, impeccably-suited store manager and one of two on-site opticians. I was floated to the back room built for quietly dispensing eyewear as classic rock drifts in from the showroom floor. A canon of the choicest Cutler and Gross work awaits and the walls, dispensing table and gorgeous, custom slide-out shelves are dotted with its most impressive vintage artifacts and top sellers exhibited like artwork. “We house pieces from the early ’80s, ’90s and 2000s and show them here. We have quite a following of eyewear connoisseurs who have followed us for years and want to repurchase a frame,” says Vale. “We have our very first frame that was made in the early ’70s.”

The time-honored, optical-only brand’s craftsmanship is apparent from frame to fit. Each portion is fashioned by hand in Northern Italy through a meticulous 43 steps. “My favorite thing about Cutler and Gross is that there is actually a longstanding protocol in the way that we do things. Our goods are not perishable—I know that’s the catchphrase of the moment—but our styles are classic yet contemporary, and the standards are not altered,” says Chris Bantounas, the second optician on staff. “I think people really enjoy that continuity.”

We waste no time in pulling out pieces, and as I get a closer look, the discussion really begins. “I think our most special offering is what we can do with our bespoke service. Our crown jewel, which goes hand-in-hand with owning the factory and not going through a third party, is that we have the ability to custom-make a frame. That’s what separates us from any optical store.”

On the higher end of optical price points, the over 4,000 handmade frames residing in the shop attract true aficionados of eyewear who class glasses with essential accessories. “Someone who appreciates art, someone who appreciates well-made, beautiful products, that is generally our clientele,” says Vale. These distinguished enthusiasts are invited to dream up their next pair of frames in the back gallery room, orchestrating their own truly unique eyewear or recreating relics and former favorites. “We can make almost anything,” Vale explains. “Even pieces we haven’t had in production, vintage pieces.”

In a neighborhood occupied to its edges with galleries in the 1980s and 1990s, some art oases have kept their doors and walls open, with others recently finding their way back in an atmosphere of creative renaissance. The Cutler and Gross host structure itself was originally a factory transformed into an art co-op during the artist movement of the 1970s and continues to house the same artists who have maintained their devotion to the vicinity. “We love Soho. This is for us,” says Vale.



Every architectural aspect of the space is coordinated in duo-chromatically dramatic black and white, but we glide out onto the shop floor to tour the ceiling-high colorblocking frame display method which, through a store-spanning spectrum, spins the viewer past every frame. The experience all comes together through color perfectly between hushed chic and vibrantly stirring. “Color is very catching to the eye. Black, then we work our way into gray, to browns, tortoises… to the more colorful frames,” explains Vale. We finish with one wall designated for their newest designs and colors, and another for collaboration collections, including well-known international designers from Canada, England and France such as Erdem, Mulberry, Comme Des Garcons, Maison Martin Margiela and Sportmax.

In addition to designer matchups, signature materials are also expanding for the brand synonymous with the chunky acetate silhouette. A new factory in northern Italy will strengthen Cutler and Gross’ capability for using metal as it instates an even larger infrastructure to meet the demand for its particular aura of individuality. Deepening both retail and wholesale business, the brand is investing in its ability to increase capacity without compromise, adding a studio to its London headquarters. “They’re pumping out a lot of ideas,” says Vale about the onboarding of additional artists to assist the long-established design director Marie Wilkinson.

Vale stops to interject into an exchange between salesperson and customer. “Did we bite on something?” The gentleman is deliberating over two styles and asks me for an outsider’s opinion, “These… or these?” the shopper implores, holding up two options. “These are mellow, and these are bold. Do they say ‘Ooh!?’ Or are they jarring?” I tell him that the second option is in fact more “Ooh!” (Vale interprets this from the background as “striking”), yet not jarring. He moves away to make his decision, leaving us with his final thought: “These people have the patience of saints. They got e-mails from London when I was there.”

The New York City flagship store fluently facilitates customer service globally. “That’s another facet we deal with: the internationalism of our clients traveling abroad,” says Vale. “We have clients that are bi-coastal, bi-continental, and they want service everywhere, and service needs to be the same. I can’t give them a different story.”

With this worldview, Cutler and Gross continues to gather an audience eager to hear the tale of what the London label offers transcontinentally. It’s seriously elite eyewear towing a celebrated history in a setup that is amazingly more inclusive than anything else. ■