From Soho’s Georgian streets to today’s London workshops, Ed Scarlett’s legacy endures - celebrated in countless kaleidoscopic hues. Any colour, as long as it’s Scarlett.
In 1705, English optician Edward Scarlett opened his shop in Soho, London, and quietly changed the way the world saw itself. By 1727 he had perfected what we now recognise as the modern spectacle frame - an invention so elegant in its simplicity that, three centuries on, it remains essentially unaltered.
Scarlett's original design (top) and contemporary frame (bottom).
Yet what Scarlett began as a revolutionary act of utility has matured into a craft of beauty and individuality. Today, the Ed Scarlett Bespoke Service continues that legacy, creating eyewear that is as unique as its owner.
Beauty and individuality.
A pair of spectacles is both instrument and identity. They allow us to view the world with clarity, and, in turn, they present us to the world. To entrust such a task to mass production is to surrender individuality; to choose bespoke is to reclaim it.
Realise your vision.
At Ed Scarlett, each frame begins not with a template, but with a conversation. Face shape, lifestyle, aesthetic leanings - all are taken into account before pencil touches paper. Sketches are drafted, measurements noted, prototypes cut, and acetate chosen from an unrivalled palette of Mazzucchelli colours and finishes. The result is not simply a frame, but a personal artefact: made in London, by hand, for one person alone.
Unrivalled palette of Mazzucchelli colours and finishes.
For those who wish to balance tradition with individuality, the Ed Scarlett Custom Service provides the ideal middle ground. Here, clients select from a library of classic Scarlett silhouettes - frames whose proportions and heritage are proven - and try various sizes to establish optimum fit.
A kaleidoscopic range of colours. Click here to view more.
The process is collaborative yet efficient: an existing design made from one of Mazzucchelli's kaleidoscopic colours, refined to one’s own requirements, ensuring comfort, character, and distinction without compromise.
Any colour, as long as it's Scarlett.
To commission a pair of Ed Scarlett frames is to join a lineage that stretches back to Georgian London, through centuries of invention and refinement. It is to embrace the philosophy that true innovation endures, and that style, when authentically personal, will always outlive fashion.
For those who understand that a frame is more than a frame - that it is a lens through which life is both viewed and expressed - Scarlett’s workshop doors are open.