Takla
Sunglasses
1969 (made)
1969 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The eyewear firm Oliver Goldsmith created this glasses frame, titled ‘Takla’, in 1969. Philip Oliver Goldsmith, a salesman for a small optical firm, founded his eyewear company in London in 1926. In 1935 his son Charles Goldsmith entered the firm with the aim of transforming glasses from a medical necessity to a fashion item. From the company’s offices in Poland Street, his sons A. Oliver and Ray Goldsmith built upon the company’s reputation for attention-grabbing designs and solicited celebrity endorsement for their products. Key clients included Lord Snowdon, the actor Diana Dors, Princess Grace of Monaco and Diana, Princess of Wales.
The firm created the Takla frame at a time when materials were cut and shaped by hand in the company workshop. To achieve Takla’s slight curve around the eye edges the plastic was heated, then gradually bent by hand. Takla’s dramatic angle around the eye required that the metal pins be filed down flush on the outside but not the inside for extra strength. The frame’s exaggerated oval eye shape with rectangular lens opening made it a distinctive design which took advantage of fashion’s taste for stylised geometry at this time.
The firm created the Takla frame at a time when materials were cut and shaped by hand in the company workshop. To achieve Takla’s slight curve around the eye edges the plastic was heated, then gradually bent by hand. Takla’s dramatic angle around the eye required that the metal pins be filed down flush on the outside but not the inside for extra strength. The frame’s exaggerated oval eye shape with rectangular lens opening made it a distinctive design which took advantage of fashion’s taste for stylised geometry at this time.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Takla (manufacturer's title) |
| Materials and techniques | Acetate and plastic |
| Brief description | Acetate framed sunglasses 'Takla', made by Oliver Goldsmith Eyewear, Great Britain, 1969 |
| Physical description | Cream acetate framed sunglasses with a stylised oval eyeshape. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Given by A. Oliver Goldsmith, in memory of his father, Charles Oliver Goldsmith |
| Object history | Registered File number 1990/200. These glasses form part of a design archive of the British eyewear company Oliver Goldsmith. The archive, which consists of approximately 70 glasses frames from the 1930s to the late 1980s, was donated by A. Oliver Goldsmith, grandson of the founder, and former chief designer at the firm. A. Oliver Goldsmith donated the material to the V & A in memory of his father Charles Goldsmith. |
| Summary | The eyewear firm Oliver Goldsmith created this glasses frame, titled ‘Takla’, in 1969. Philip Oliver Goldsmith, a salesman for a small optical firm, founded his eyewear company in London in 1926. In 1935 his son Charles Goldsmith entered the firm with the aim of transforming glasses from a medical necessity to a fashion item. From the company’s offices in Poland Street, his sons A. Oliver and Ray Goldsmith built upon the company’s reputation for attention-grabbing designs and solicited celebrity endorsement for their products. Key clients included Lord Snowdon, the actor Diana Dors, Princess Grace of Monaco and Diana, Princess of Wales. The firm created the Takla frame at a time when materials were cut and shaped by hand in the company workshop. To achieve Takla’s slight curve around the eye edges the plastic was heated, then gradually bent by hand. Takla’s dramatic angle around the eye required that the metal pins be filed down flush on the outside but not the inside for extra strength. The frame’s exaggerated oval eye shape with rectangular lens opening made it a distinctive design which took advantage of fashion’s taste for stylised geometry at this time. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.244X-1990 |
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| Record created | December 8, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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