Tom Davies does Wonka for Warner Bros

Scrumdiddlyumptious eyewear king Tom Davies fulfils dream by designing frames for Warner Bros.

Pictures’ upcoming holiday spectacle Wonka

Eyewear designer Tom Davies has joined forces once again with Warner Bros. Discovery to design frames for the upcoming motion picture Wonka starring Timothée Chalamet in the title role and released in the UK on December 8.

Davies, inspired by Wonka himself to use gold business cards and craft glasses out of unusual material such as crushed meteorites, has spent more than a decade creating bespoke frames for leading characters in numerous Hollywood films.

He has successfully collaborated with Warner Bros. on many occasions – including reinterpreting the iconic frames for 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections and designing Clark Kent’s glasses, as worn by Henry Cavill in the 2016 classic Superman v Batman: Dawn of Justice.They recently announced an exclusive partnership where he has produced a limited-edition range of exclusive frames inspired by six of his favourite Warner Bros. films to celebrate the legendary studio’s 100th year anniversary.

For Wonka, Davies was asked to create two bespoke frames – one for the character Fickelgruber, played by Mathew Baynton and the second for Abacus Crunch, played by Jim Carter. For Fickelgruber, the character wears a lot of green and is Wonka’s nemesis.

The frame Tom designed has a classic period appropriate shape which would have been at the height of fashion at the time. Only successful dapper people would be able to afford such a frame at that time. Davies also added a green tint to the lens to imply a slightly mysterious around the character.

For Abacus, the character wears glasses from 50 years previous. As he is down on his luck throughout the film, he could not really afford new glasses so the frame design was quite specific.

It needed to sit at the end of his nose and also function for Jim Carter to use during filming. When making frames for films, the costume department need five pairs and it would be almost impossible to source something so vintage for an actor which also fits them perfectly. Bespoke was the only option and actually, this is the frame Davies was originally called in to make for the studio.

To celebrate the release of Warner Bros. Pictures’ big screen holiday spectacle, “Wonka,” Davies worked with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products to design a collection of seven Wonka-inspired frames which will launch through his Catch London brand in December. Each frame has a unique or exotic feature in keeping with both the film itself and Davies’ own reputation for weird and wonderful creativity: some smell like giraffe milk, others glow in the dark, while others change colour the moment the wearer steps outside.

Says Tom Davies: ‘I was so excited when Warner Bros. Discovery asked me to get involved in this project. Growing up, I loved Roald Dahl’s stories and always dreamed of running my own factory. Being inspired by Willy Wonka from a young age and now getting to design frames for Wonka very much feels like a childhood ambition fulfilled.

‘But it also gave me so many ideas for wild and wacky ways in which to create this new Catch London collection of frames. Whoever thought the world needed glasses that not only look amazing but smell of giraffe milk? Well, now it does and they’re fantastic. I can’t wait for people to wear and, of course, sniff them!’