Vista Optics hits 30 years

Polymer manufacturer Vista Optics is celebrating 30 years in business. The company now sells to 60 countries and over the past decade has supplied the equivalent of five million blanks annually for intraocular lens (IOL) manufacture.

Thirty years ago, David Walker, Vista managing director, first began his company in Bracknell, Berkshire after discovering a need for the supply of contact lens materials to independent laboratories. He had previously worked for Allergan Hydron Europe. After relocation to a new laboratory in Kent in 1982, Vista started producing its own range of materials and a few years later in 1985 and 1987 received the Queen's Award for Export Achievement. In the early 1990s, Vista worked with two independent European IOL manufacturers to develop and export the first commercial hydrophilic acrylic IOL lens material and in 1995, implemented a Teaching Company Scheme with Aston University.