Designer Files: Claire Goldsmith

by Louis J L Fullagar Interviewing your "mates" has got to be the best part of this job. This one is no exception.... Claire Goldsmith, head of one of the most exciting independent eyewear brands on the planet, successful business woman and mother who's fame is rapidly rising to "rockstar" status in this industry, is on the podium and ready to be questioned.Born in North West London in the mid 70's, Claire was only 10 when the Oliver Goldsmith company, in it's original form, closed down in 1985. She stuck around (luckily) and in fact, still lives in London because she likes to be near lots of friends and family and frankly, is a bit of a homebody.Clearly your family were in the industry but how did you become involved?From the age of 10 until I turned 26 and re-launched the name, Oliver Goldsmith, it was not a huge part of my life. I studied Marketing and Business at Manchester University and I specialised in Branding and Psychology. I started to really get into "Heritage Brands" and focused on them as a subject matter. I love the integrity they hold and how people connect with them emotionally. I thought to myself “I own a heritage brand”.I spoke to my uncle (who owned the other half of the OG brand in eyewear) and told him I wanted to try and re-launch OG as the heritage brand it was. He opened the archive to me and so that’s what I did. I had to learn how to make glasses from the ground up, which is never a bad thing. I came it as a consumer. I have a curious mind and believe a person can learn anything if they put their mind to it and surround themselves with knowledgeable advisors. I did both and 7 years on I am confident that I do now know a thing or two about how to make high end optical products.Why and when did you begin to design eyewear?I am not a designer by trade. I am a marketer. But I have always known what I like and I have always known my own mind. When it comes to designing, I am equally clear about what I want in my collection as we grow it each year. In 2008 I brought on-board a hugely skilled and technical designer by the name of Jesse Stevens, to support me in translating ideas in my head into a workable product. Together we have brought the CG collection to life. I tend to do all the color work alone but as the collection grows I starting to invite my team to get involved in that too. There is no shame in admitting you don’t do everything. You actually can’t do everything. Running a business is difficult in itself. Luckily I have a great team who all have a valid and important role in making CG Eyewear work. What were your early influences?I love design. I love cars. I love architecture. As I said earlier,  have a curious mind. I always ask ‘how’ and ‘why’ and ‘who’ and ‘where’. Asking questions leads you to places of design inspiration and influence. In terms of how I run this business, I read lots about other businesses in different sectors to my own and try to draw comparisons. I meet with other entrepreneurs and share experiences which is not only cathartic but also valuable to help me become a better business person.Where do you draw inspiration from now?I draw inspiration from great leaders. People who stand out from the crowd. I study brands and businesses that have stood the test of time to learn from their journey. And on a design level I am involving more and more of my team and letting them inspire me to take a design route that perhaps I may not have gone down myself. There are going to be lots of exciting things coming from the CG brand in coming years. We are overflowing with ideas. Just a matter of building ourselves up strongly enough to be able to pursue them all.What is your favorite pair of glasses not designed by you?I don’t have a favorite pair of glasses – there have been hundreds of show stoppers over the decades from all manner of designers. But if you ask me who my favorite brand is well that’s a simple question....Mykita Mylon – it bloody blows me away. To have come up with a unique material and way of making frames, in this day and age when everything has been done, is heart-stoppingly exciting. It’s what my grandfather did over 70 years ago with plastic and no-one has done it since!!!! Until now that is.3D printing glasses !!!! Seriously – my mind aches at the possibilities of that. Yes it’s a new technology. Yes there is work that needs to be done with finish and polish….but honestly…..I am speechless and in awe. I am in awe of the people behind Mykita. They are on another level.What is happening with your brand this year?Well, I hope it will grow with more people taking it into their stores. Those who have had the line for a couple of years say that it is well made, well priced, good bridge fits, that it has its own unique aesthetic. So all good things on that front. We are still relatively unknown in the USA so while I am far more about growing relationships with our existing customers, we also have a good bit of growth to do in areas we are not yet represented. America is huge – we’ve barely scratched the surface. Msquared (Matthew Reiss & Marc Himy) are my North American distribution team and are well experienced in this field having been reps themselves for some very popular lines. Tell us about about your recently launched #myCGlife campaign on Facebook....#myCGlife is a real lifestyle campaign using real people in real situations.We have to do lifestyle shoots every year. They are hugely expensive to do well and often out of date before you feel you have even had good use of the images. On a different subject I have felt for some time that apps like Instagram help turn good amateur photographers into REALLY good photographers.Take those two points and combine them with the fact that more and more people were posting pictures of themselves doing cool things wearing our glasses on our Facebook page and our Instagram reel. We were seeing brilliant images that were the real lifestyles of our customers.... life through their eyes. That shot of them in our glasses – it was their life – their CG Life. So we started to hashtag images with #mycglife and got it trending! Now if you Google #mycglife lots of related links come up. Very cool. From here on we ask all customers shots to be tagged #mycglife.We have also now started to sponsor a couple of carefully chosen "Instagramers" – people who we felt had a particularly good eye for photography. We gave them 20 pairs of glasses for them to share amongst their friends and relatives with the instruction “Choose a pair of glasses. Live your life. Then share it!” What is it about being an independent that makes it worth the hard work?Ahhh... that’s a question. There are days I do ask myself the same thing what with cash flow headaches, manufacturing challenges, and inevitable growing pains. I think the word ‘independent’ is key – I am independent. I am able to run the business I always wanted to work for. I can employ like-minded people and enjoy having them around me all day. As a result we are effective as a team and produce a really good product which we can all be proud of. I go home at night, exhausted but satisfied in the knowledge that my staff and I work to our values every day.We are independent. That is what makes it worth it!Thanks mate...can you remove me from your spam mail now?Laters boof head...www.clairegoldsmith.com