This month, Jamie Edney, who runs designer eyewear boutique Edney & Edney with his optometrist wife Ayshah on Monson Road, reveals an exclusive luxury new eyewear brand coming instore later this month…
Throughout my varied career in the optical industry, it’s fair to say I have encountered a few spectacle frames and sunglasses. From design and production to the dispense to the final consumer, spectacles have certainly dominated my life.
This has given me a very valuable understanding of what I do and don’t like when it comes to eyewear, so when Ayshah and I opened our practice together in Tunbridge Wells in 2016, we knew exactly the sort of collection we wanted to house.
You could say Edney & Edney is the curated end result of a 20-year-long mission to bring together the finest selection of eyewear in the world.
It may sound easy – after all anyone could Google ‘luxury eyewear’ and go from there – but navigating the intricacies of putting together a selection like ours is certainly a juggling act.
Our collections from across the globe must each bring something unique to the table, and it’s amazing to see new clients walk in and immediately resonate with completely different collections.
Until recently, we had 12 unique collections each promoting and demonstrating different facets of eyewear. Jacques Marie Mages brings a classic classy style, Kirk & Kirk frames are a statement pop of colour, Mykita combines German engineering with a minimal style, MASAHIROMARUYAMA produce artistic and intricate titanium pieces and Theo provides completely unique avant garde spectacles.
I was beginning to think I had seen it all – a dangerous notion which could cause stagnation in the collection. Then, on a buying trip to Paris last year I stumbled across what I didn’t realise was the missing piece of my optometric puzzle.
A collection which had meticulously been designed by a single master of the craft. Superior materials with a unique design combining classic style with contemporary fashion. I am delighted to announce that Edney & Edney is now one of just three UK purveyors of John Dalia.
John Dalia have produced eyewear since 2011, their (at least) 100-step manufacturing processes result in frames which represent ultimate luxury and timeless style. Unparalleled quality, exceptional materials and a love of simple beauty are the cornerstones of this family-owned fashion house of Parisian eyewear makers.
Dalia himself is a self-taught designer who takes enormous pride in each frame in the relatively small collection. His collections are always refined with each creation designed as a piece of high jewellery, understated yet elegant, just like his native city.
The collection will be available to view in May 2023, so if you want to be one of the first to experience the new luxury collection, be sure to pop in.
As always, for more information phone us on 01892 517986, email hello@edneyandedney.com, or drop us a message on Instagram @edneyandedney.
