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Made in Italy

Cut and finished in Italy, from the factories in the Dolomites to the workshops around Venice.

122 frames

About Made in Italy

Made in Italy is the largest origin page here: 125 of the 311 frames online, from six brands. KUBORAUM accounts for 73 of them, designed in Berlin and handmade in Italy. Res/Rei has 19, made with local manufacturers around Treviso. Blackfin has 14, titanium frames made from start to finish in Agordo, in the Dolomites. Oscar Mamooi and Gamine have seven each, the first run from Mestre on the Venice mainland, the second designed in New York and handcrafted in Italy. Piero Massaro has five, handmade in the Venice area.

Only brands with a verified Made in Italy fact are here. A brand that does not state where its frames are made is on no origin page at all, which is why Cartier, Oliver Peoples and J.F. Rey are absent.

What the six brands make

Ninety-seven of the 125 are acetate, 22 are metal and six combine the two. The acetate is where Italian frame-making shows: KUBORAUM’s masks and Res/Rei’s patterned plates, Oscar Mamooi’s faceted fronts and Gamine’s Mazzucchelli acetate, all cut from a solid plate so the colour runs through the rim. The metal is almost all Blackfin’s titanium, with a handful of KUBORAUM and Gamine frames.

Round is the most common shape, with 32 frames, then square with 27, cat-eye with 23, geometric with 21, oval with ten, rectangular with seven and aviator with five. Eye sizes run from 39mm to 56mm with a median of 50mm; 18 frames are 46mm or under, 79 sit between 47mm and 52mm, and 28 are 53mm or more. Most are one of a kind and ship as frames, free and insured within the US, for your optician to glaze.

Which glasses brands are made in Italy?

Of the brands we stock, six state that their frames are made in Italy: KUBORAUM, Res/Rei, Blackfin, Oscar Mamooi, Gamine and Piero Massaro. Between them they account for 125 of our 311 frames. We only place a brand on this page when the brand itself says where its frames are made, so a brand without that statement is left off rather than guessed at.

Are KUBORAUM frames made in Italy?

Yes. KUBORAUM was founded in Berlin in 2012, and the name is German for cubic room, but every frame is handmade in Italy. That is why all 73 KUBORAUM frames online are on this page. The brand calls its frames masks and pairs Italian craft with the ideas of a Berlin studio. Most of the 73 are acetate, cut from a solid plate, with six in metal.

Are Italian glasses frames better quality?

Agordo sits at the heart of Italy’s eyewear district, and the brands here make in that tradition: Blackfin has made titanium in Agordo since 1991, and Piero Massaro and Oscar Mamooi work around Venice. Quality still varies by brand and by frame rather than by country. Read the listing, and ask us about a particular frame if you want more.

Can I get prescription lenses in these frames?

Yes. Every frame ships as a frame, and your own optician fits lenses to your prescription. That is true whether the frame is acetate, which hides a thicker lens edge, or Blackfin titanium, where a thinner lens material may be suggested. Our lens guide at /collections/lens-guide explains the options, and the Eye Rx practice at either of our shops can glaze and adjust.