Handmade in France, using exquisite materials, François Pinton frames keep a trace of those who made them: the passion of those who have chosen to work with their hands. Performing an artisanal craft in spectacle-making requires a desire to become part of French tradition and demands a passion for exacting standards.
Craftsmen heritage
Experts’ hands.
The craftsmen of the Maison Pinton know perfectly how to assess the quality of a row block of acetate, rectify a line, adjust a bridge, align a frame such as the precious and fragile object it is.
The craftsmen of the Maison Pinton know perfectly how to assess the quality of a row block of acetate, rectify a line, adjust a bridge, align a frame such as the precious and fragile object it is.
Passionate creativity.
Creativity in the spectacle industry is the man’s hand serving its own imagination and which makes the difference. The high-quality spectacles are also a wide range of ancestral know-hows with an extra touch of poetry.
Creativity in the spectacle industry is the man’s hand serving its own imagination and which makes the difference. The high-quality spectacles are also a wide range of ancestral know-hows with an extra touch of poetry.
The art of spectacles.
To understand the big Art of the creation of spectacles, it is required to master each step of the production chain.
To understand the big Art of the creation of spectacles, it is required to master each step of the production chain.
Specific know-hows.
The making of one single spectacle can sometimes need up to twelve different skills: draughtsman, model maker, setter, polisher…each of them requiring technicity, meticulousness, passion and as many professionals.
The making of one single spectacle can sometimes need up to twelve different skills: draughtsman, model maker, setter, polisher…each of them requiring technicity, meticulousness, passion and as many professionals.
Neat details.
Hinges with rivets, Italian acetate, hot stamping…: the Pinton models are real master pieces.
Hinges with rivets, Italian acetate, hot stamping…: the Pinton models are real master pieces.
Acetate.
Cellulose acetate is a hypoallergenic material made from cotton which has the particularity of being flexible without loosing its shape. The François Pinton frames are handmade from Italian cellulose acetate.
Cellulose acetate is a hypoallergenic material made from cotton which has the particularity of being flexible without loosing its shape. The François Pinton frames are handmade from Italian cellulose acetate.
ORIGINS
The story of François Pinton eyewear began in Paris in the roaring twenties : a gifted artisan jeweller, Robert François Pinton, ran the prestigious house of Meyrowitz. After the Second World War, he signed his first exclusive collections for the international elite. In 1953, he founded the Maison François Pinton. Later, in the sixties and seventies, Dominique Pinton, the son of Robert François, designed iconic models for the French Riviera jet set. François Pinton eyewear symbolised la dolce vita and French excellence in spectacle-manufacturing, as it still does today.
ICONS
Prince Charles, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, François Mitterand, Jacques Chirac, Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth, Jean Poiret, Robert Redford, Arthur Elgort, Georges Burns, Nicole Croisille, Jacques Barrot, Francis Ford Coppola, Richard Gere, Sharon Stone, Édouard Baladur, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Victor Vasarely, Madame de Rothschild, Colette Giacomotti, Bernadette Chirac, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Andrée Putman, Gregory Peck, and others. So many names now associated with such recognisable frames signed by François Pinton. Models originally tailor-made with pinpoint specifications, some of which still feature in the house’s collections today.
ARISTOTE ONASSIS
Aristote Onassis, the twentieth-century’s best-known Greek shipping magnate and socialite, was a
loyal client of François Pinton.
Originally, the ‘Ona’ model, designed by François Pinton and made entirely from tortoiseshell, was
specially designed for Aristote Onassis : he wanted to distinguish himself through original, exclusive
accessories.
Jacky Onassis
Wearing François Pinton glasses became an Onassis family trait : that is how one of the
most powerful and desired women in the world, Jackie Kennedy-Onassis, Aristote’s wife, and then
their children, Alexander and Christina Onassis, ended up wearing the spectacle-maker’s eyewear.
Marcel Pagnol
As early as the 50’s Marcel Pagnol became a loyal customer of the Maison Pinton but also a friend of the family. It’s
from his house on the Canoubiers Bay in St-Tropez that he was writing his thank you letters to Robert François
Pinton.
Valéry Giscard d’Estaing
Valéry Giscard D’Estaing quickly became a fan of the Pinton collections thanks to the growing fame of the brand in
the 70’s. He had the habit of not going out much, instead, it was the son of Robert François Pinton, Dominique, that
was going to adjust his frames in his mansion in the heart of the 16 th district of Paris.
Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly was probably the greatest star of post-war cinema. In 1956, she married the Prince
of Monaco. For the occasion, she ordered twenty pairs of François Pinton frames, bespoke and
handmade, in rare, precious materials.
For the biopic ‘Grace de Monaco’, presented at Cannes in 2014, the American production team asked
the Maison François Pinton to make frames identical to the ones Grace Kelly wore in 1956, for the actress Nicole Kidman.
Marcel Achard
Marcel Achard, a writer and man of cinema wrote both light comedies and Boulevard plays. Robert François Pinton
designed a model of frames at his image, his iconic round-shaped frames. The style of those frames is mainly
recognizable with its thickness, its volume and gives strength to an unmatched sight. This model is emblematic of the
30’s.
