17th November 2016

Cubitts comes home

- by Anthony Leyton

Three years ago, in a flat on Cubitt Street, King’s Cross, Tom Broughton founded a spectacle company unlike any other. In need of a name for his new venture, he turned to his surroundings for inspiration – and found it in the building yard once owned by the Cubitt brothers, Master Builders and Engineers who modernised their industry and changed the face of London. There was a clear parallel with what he wanted to achieve. Cubitts the brand was born.

Photography by Ed Reeve

Despite basing their workshop in St Pancras, Cubitts has never had a shop in the area; its three current outlets are based in Soho, Borough and, most recently, Spitalfields, which opened in September 2016. With the current headquarters too small to meet the needs of the rapidly growing business, that changes on Monday 21 November, when Cubitts opens the doors of its new HQ at 97 Caledonian Road – a corner site that has just emerged from two decades of dereliction with a spectacular redevelopment.

Like its other shops, Cubitts’ King’s Cross outlet will offer its range of handmade frames and sunglasses available to buy, as well as the brand’s celebrated bespoke service, which enables people to have a design specialist custom-make perfect-fitting spectacles to suit their individual style, or to recreate existing frames. In addition, the basement workshop will be the home of the Cubitts Academy, where Cubitts staff will be trained in all aspects of optical dispensing and other essential skills in the spectacle maker’s craft.

Photography by Ed Reeve

Cubitts don’t just take naming inspiration from their environments; they draw design inspiration too (for example, the custom-made rivets that hold the frames together are based upon the design features of Lewis Cubitts’ original Granary Building). The décor of the new shop is no exception, taking cues from the history of the area to create a uniquely enticing interior and celebrating the railway heritage of King’s Cross by painting the building exterior in Flying Scotsman green.

‘Wherever we have a store we try to take ideas from our surroundings, whether that’s from the local history or the raw materials that are around. The King's Cross and Clerkenwell areas were once the home of the British spectacle-making industry. We've collected lots of pieces of optical equipment from that time which we still use.’

– Joe Bell, Head of Operations, Cubitts

Cubitts King’s Cross will open on 21 November.

Photography by Ed Reeve