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Iris & Fils, Optique No.7. Opticians in Paris since 1897.

Optique N°7

Tap to move the loupe.
Read the last line.

Everything, in focus.

II · The frames

Three silhouettes, one bench.

No.7 Ronde · since 1897

Ronde

The first frame Auguste Iris cut on rue de Turenne. A true circle, for reading by gaslight.

46 □ 22 — 140

Écaille

III · Tints


Traunsee, eleven in the morning, sun straight off the water. Try each lens.

Mineral glass, anti-reflective on both faces. Nothing added, nothing taken away.

IV · Before, after


The same street at −2.50, with a touch of astigmatism, and through a pair we cut for it.

A Paris street of cafés, flower boxes and awnings, in sharp focus
Sph −2.50 · Cyl −0.75 × 180N°7
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V · The atelier


  1. Tortoiseshell spectacles resting on antique engraved book plates

    1897 · Rue de Turenne

    One lathe, one drawer.

    Auguste Iris, a lens grinder from the Jura, opens a shop in the Marais with a single lathe and a drawer of spectacle blanks. The sign still says Iris & Fils; there have been sons ever since.

  2. Hands cleaning a pair of glasses at an optician's workbench

    Seven months · Acetate

    The block rests first.

    Every sheet of cotton acetate cures for seven months before it is cut, so a frame never shrinks or warps on your face. We buy the block the year before we need it.

  3. A craftsman fastening the temple of a pair of glasses with a tiny screwdriver

    212 steps · By hand

    Twelve weeks a pair.

    Cut, bevelled, tumbled in beech chips for three days, polished, pinned and fitted. Two hundred and twelve steps, and the last one is always done with you in the chair.

Steps, all by hand
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Months the acetate rests
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Days in beech chips
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Generations at the bench
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VI · Fitting


An hour at the bench on rue de Turenne: measurements, a sight test, and the acetate chosen with you. From €1,450, lenses included.

Frame
Lenses

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