Published in Shopping Around
Author: Kate Madden Yee
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Phoenix Optical was featured in the Shopping Around section, where writer Kate Madden Yee explored the shift toward playful, vintage-inspired eyewear and highlighted owner Ray Ascher’s insights on design trends.

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“Metal frames are on the wane in part because they have an aging effect,” says Ray Ascher, owner of Phoenix Optical, a lens lab, frame designer, and seller whose family started the Berkeley business in the 1930s. “That's partly due to the limitations of the material: plastic appeals to designers because it can be layered, laminated, and cut away in unique styles.”
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Phoenix Optical supplies combination frames (metal chassis with a plastic or aluminum overlay) in the Malcolm X style.

The designers say playfulness is in the air for customers who are tired of finding the same styles in frame shops coast to coast. “They want vintage, and colors and shapes that are different from all those mass-made frames,” Ascher says.
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We’re proud to be part of the ongoing evolution of eyewear—bringing creativity, craftsmanship, and individuality to every pair.

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