P: Persol
Founded in 1917 in the northern Italian city of Turin by photographer and optician Giuseppe Ratti, eyewear company Persol is sometimes described as one of the world’s oldest eyewear companies.
Now part of the Luxottica Group, the brand’s name derives from the Italian words ‘per il sole’, meaning ‘for the sun’ in English. The first eyewear Ratti designed in his courtyard in Via Caboto aimed at providing high-quality protection to the eyes of sports drivers and pilots.
The company’s first truly iconic frames were released in 1957: the Model 649’s large keyhole-bridged frames were designed for tram drivers and were immortalised in the Italian film Divorce, Italian Style, by actor Marcelli Mastroianni. Featuring Persol’s recognisable arrow shaped hinge, or ‘Freccia’, the Model 649 became a cult classic and has been referred to as an example of Italian creative genius.
Today, Persol’s frames are still manufactured in Northern Italy and make use of high-quality materials and artisanal craftmanship. The brand’s heritage as the eyewear of choice for actors and supermodels persists, and it maintains associations with film festivals around the globe.
Persol's Model 649
Q: Quotes
Eyewear and its ability to affect our perception through improving, or sometimes blurring, our vision has solidified spectacles as a neat linguistic feature in a number of quotes and popular sayings. Seeing the world through ‘rose-tinted glasses’, for example, refers to an over-optimistic outlook where the real world is hidden behind an attractive lens. Below are some spectacle-related quotes from a selection of cultural figures.
‘A pair of powerful spectacles has sometimes sufficed to cure a person in love,’ Friedrich Nietzsche, 19th century German philosopher.
‘I can’t think without my glasses,’ Vivienne Westwood, contemporary British fashion designer and icon.
‘By 2009, computers will disappear. Displays will be written directly onto our retinas by devices in our eyeglasses and contact lenses,’ Ray Kurzweil, American inventor, futurist and Google’s director of engineering.
'Don’t call the world dirty because you forgot to clean your glasses,’ Aaron Hill, 18th century English poet and dramatist.
