Bird Eyewear interview: Fledglings to flight

Ed Bird describes stumbling into the eyewear industry ‘by accident’. As designers, he and his brother, Lawrence, frequently collaborated on various product ideas, but one concept – an eyewear frame – caught the attention of their friends and family. ‘That went down really well and it didn’t take long before we were having requests from more and more people,’ Bird explains. Within 16 months of that first idea, they had won Frame of the Year at the Optician Awards – ‘At that point, we knew we were on to something good.’

The award was a turning point for Bird and his brother as that success spurred them to take the leap and dedicate them­selves full-time to their brand. Since then, the brand has amassed several other acco­lades, including the Love Eyewear Awards. ‘I think part of what people loved is that our approach was fresh, and it was new, because we weren’t from the industry. So, we were approaching our design and how to build the brand in a very different way,’ he says.