Their vision: Making historic eyewear fashion-forward for modern customers

Describe your business.

We restore, register and customize eyewear dating from 1890 to 1980. We also manufacture a bespoke contemporary collection called Cuthbert & Chen made from materials such as titanium and buffalo horn.

Who are your customers?

Eyewear connoisseurs, professionals, hipsters and the fashion set.

What is your business philosophy?

Provide great service, find our clients the perfect fit and offer a one-of-a-kind, fashionable product. These elements are what we believe build lifetime customers.

What is the hardest part about doing business in Las Vegas?

Las Vegas is a shopper’s paradise, but the transactional experience is generally just that — transactional. The essence of our business, especially when the client is interested in our more historic pieces, is very detailed, as our mission is to take the time to find our clients the perfect piece and fit for their desired look.

Tell us about your latest collection.

Our historic pieces were manufactured from gold-filled and cellulose acetate, and are some of the most exclusive eyeglasses and sunglasses in the world. Marya and I wanted to use our knowledge of historic eyewear’s custom fit and feel to create a collection made from the contemporary world’s finest materials but at a more affordable price point than our historic frames. Cuthbert is my dad’s first name, and Chen is Marya’s mother’s maiden name. The collaboration is a marriage of craft and style.

You’ve been in business for more than two decades. To what do you owe your company’s longevity?

We have nurtured exclusive dealerships in every major city in the world that not only sell our collections but service our historic collections as well. Our glasses are not disposable fashion pieces but lifetime frames. At the end of the day, it is more about the service and less about the sale. Customers always will return to places where they experienced great service.

Which pair of your glasses has the most interesting story?

There are many pieces, including JFK’s sunglasses, MacArthur’s WWII Ray-Bans or Bruce Lee’s ’70s shades, but the most iconic are the fashion brand frames from the 1970s by Dior and Dianne Von Furstenberg, and the 1960s American Optical jet-age pilot frame, which were manufactured for the U.S. military out of premium 12K gold-filled wire. These early-brand frames changed eyewear forever, and the pilot frame is the only to be worn on the moon as well as featured in the Smithsonian.

What is the best part about doing business in Las Vegas?

Las Vegas is a city that never rests. People are curious and open to discovery experiences. From a retail perspective, they aren’t afraid to try something on just to see how it looks.