Shopping with experts: Tom Davies glasses

I wear contact lenses mostly, needing glasses only to get from the bathroom to bed and back each morning and evening when I take my lenses out. Consequently it is not unusual for me to keep a pair of glasses for years unchanged, despite my optician telling me that your sight deteriorates significantly after 40 (43 is the average age of starting to need reading glasses).

So I was finally persuaded to buy new glasses. 

In the last decade eyewear has become seriously fashionable, with every big luxury brand getting in on the act. There's money to be made in this sector -just think of the cost of sunglasses now and how important they have become in the style stakes. Sunglasses cost very little to make and there are a couple of giant eyewear companies that now own most of the designer brands. My optician told me that you can tell the moment a new brand gets eaten up by one of the big firms, the quality (and weight of the frames) goes down. 

So it was interesting to discover a brand that a) I'd never heard of, 2) remains fiercely independent, 3) makes bespoke frames and 4) has its headquarters just down the road from me. Tom Davies makes bespoke glasses that are really lovely quality and satisfyingly weighty (with great hinges) in fab colours.

Once you've chosen the frame shape, you pick the outside and inside colours (from a big selection), the hinge colours and then you can add a finish to the frames, I chose to have my bloc acetate frames made matt rather than glossy. They take four weeks to make (in the UK) and you have to be measured, which doesn't happen with your standard luxury frame. They have your name embossed on the inside of the frame (nice personal touch) and come in a neat black leather box that folds flat. 

I love mine and they were no more expensive than the designer ones. Contact the head office to find your nearest stockist (they are satisfyingly few, I bet that doesn't last long) and check out the Tom Davies website to see more designs.