Our story
Irdae began with a pair of glasses Léa wore for ten years and refused to throw away. Founded in 2019 in Annecy, designed in France, hand-finished in the Cadore valley in Italy — eyewear built to be worn a decade.
A pair, refused to throw away.
Irdae began with a pair of glasses Léa wore for ten years and refused to throw away. They were bent, scratched, mismatched at the temples — and they still felt like hers. When the optician told her the frame was "too old" to repair, she opened her own atelier instead.
We design every Irdae frame in Annecy and produce them in the Cadore valley in Italy, a 90-minute drive from Venice, where eyewear has been hand-finished since the 1870s. Our acetate comes from Mazzucchelli M49 — vegetable-based, rested four weeks before milling. Our titanium is beta-grade, nickel-free, hypoallergenic. Our lenses are CR-39 standard, ground in our partner lab in Annecy in five working days.
We believe eyewear should be worn a decade. That a frame should fit your face, not the market. That a screw should be replaceable, a temple bend-able back, a hinge re-rivet-able. Irdae is twelve people, two studios, one screwdriver per box — and the slow conviction that the right pair, once found, doesn't need replacing.
What we won't compromise
Four principles that shape every Irdae frame.
Craft
Twenty-two hand-led steps per frame, nine days tumble-polished, Cadore-finished. No injection-mould shortcuts.
Patience
Acetate rests four weeks before milling. Lenses cure 48 hours. Nothing leaves the atelier early.
Lifetime
Bent temple, lost screw, scratched lens — we repair or replace at cost. Replacement parts stocked for 10 years.
Annecy + Cadore
Design studio above the Thiou river, Annecy. Production in the Cadore valley, Italy. Two studios, twelve people.
The team
Twelve people across two studios — Annecy lake, Cadore hands.
Léa Marchand
Founder & Optometrist
Trained as an optometrist in Lyon, eight years at Cubitts London, came home to Annecy in 2019. Léa sketches every frame and signs the inside of the first ten pairs of each series.
Tomás Restrepo
Lead Frame Designer
Industrial-design background, drew temple curves for Mr Leight before joining Irdae. Two weeks of sketch passes per frame, twelve test pairs per run before approval.
Giulia Sartori
Cadore Atelier Lead
Third-generation Cadore polisher. Runs the nine-day tumble cycle and the riveted-hinge station. Her grandfather polished frames in the same valley in 1968.
Camille Aubry
Optical Lab Manager
Annecy-based lens lab. CR-39, mineral, polycarbonate — single vision, progressive, blue-cut. Five working days, never faster than the curing science allows.
Noah Kestler
Customer Care & Repair
Atelier-side repair workshop, one screwdriver per frame, parts kept for ten years. Has fixed frames older than the people who bought them.
Irdae in figures
Find your frame.
Browse the full catalogue, or start with our sun or optical departments.