ANIMA  (CORE WIRE)

The anima is the metal wire core inside the temple (side arm) that acts like a skeleton to give rigidity. Only relevant in acetate designs, the Anima translated from Italian means ‘the soul’.  At Cutler and Gross we use this unique space to engrave the theme of the collection either the deco design to symbolize Tony Gross’s love of New York, the fret board as a nod to the jazz clubs in the swinging 60’s and for Paul Smith frames this ‘soul’ has the Artist Stripe stamped onto its surface

FRONTAL 

This is the front of the frame which contains the lenses. The front has 2 apertures with a groove inside each, and it is into these grooves the lenses fit

BRIDGE 

This is the part of the frame that rests on the wearers nose.  A regular bridge is shaped like a saddle and is designed to fit as a saddle fit to a horse’s back. A keyhole bridge has a gap between the top of the bridge and the nose, and the frame is designed to rest on the nose pads on the side of the bridge 

TEMPLE/SIDEARM 

Temple is the American term and sidearm is the British term for the part of the frame that extends from the top corners of the frame and rest on the ears of the wearer 

LUG 

The lug is the top corner of the front of the frame. The hinge secures the temple to the frame frontal. It has 5 barrels (like metal loops; 2 barrels fitted in the frame front and 3 barrels fitted into the temple) which slot into each other and the screw fits through them

HINGE 

Consists of 2 metal parts which interlock and are secured to the frontal and temple by means of rivets. It has 5 ‘Charniers’ or metal loops through which the screw is inserted

PINS

Pin riveting is the most traditional method of attaching a hinge to a glasses frame as they provide a solid fix between the hinge and the frontal. The rivets are located in a tightly-packed cluster on the frame front endpiece and the outside of the temple near the hinge and can be both functional and decorative, like our 8-point star compass pins. 

TEMPLE TIP 

This is the last 45mm of the temple. On Cutler and Gross frames this could be the iconic paddle shape on the 0734 or the fender milling on the 1394.  The shape of the Paul Smith temple tips follows the shape of the ‘P’ from the Paul Smith logo, inlaid in gold

RIM 

This is the part of the frame that surrounds the lens, seen most often on our Paul Smith frames.  On the Paul Smith Albion and Alford frame, the rim is doubled, where the metal rim is surrounded by a fine extruded acetate rim – this is known a Windsor rim

NOSE PADS 

This is where the frame sits on the nose. On an acetate frame, the nose pads are integrated into the frame front, whereas on a metal frame the nose pads are fitted onto pad arms shaped like the neck of a goose, which can be adjusted by an optician for the perfect bridge fit.  9mm frames created from 9mm thick acetate and then milled to reduce weight and increase comfort. This type of acetate is unique and certainly non-standard. The acetate is specially ordered to create this extra thickness (acetate normally comes in 4,6,8mm).  Because we specialise in acetate, laminating and milling we continually push to create frames which can give a bold look, without weighing you down and being too heavy on the nose

MILLING / BEVELLING

We internally mill and externally bevel our acetate frames to reduce overall weight, this allows us to create frames that have a bold silhouette without being too heavy and uncomfortable for every day wear.