Overseas visitors descending on London for The Eye Show (February 12-14) were expecting to see the best of British, and it seems they will not be disappointed.
The demise of TES (see news) promised to offer an optical take on the St Valentine's Day massacre rather than the expected expo, but the Dunkirk spirit has prevailed for UK optics.
Last week's announcement that The Eye Show would not take place left exhibitors high and dry. No venue, no show and the event heading for administration.
Optician had many conversations with exhibitors and journalists across the globe desperate to know what was happening with the Docklands event and the answer was, not a lot.
However, sailing to the rescue at the prow of his little ship was Tom Davies, eyewear designer and erstwhile exhibitor. It seems he wasn't prepared to take the failure of The Eye Show lying down and started talking to other Eye Show refugees about setting up an impromptu event in the capital to make the best of a bad job.
Optician tweeted about a pop-up show on Friday and by Monday Frame had been born. It didn't take long for Media Ten, the exhibition organiser that arrived at the eleventh hour to salvage The Eye Show, to offer its services as the organiser of Frame.
The saga of an optical exhibition for London is far from over.