The Only Frame Maker Left In Britain

The Algha Works factory was opened in 1932 at Fish Island in East London by entrepeneur Max Wiseman, who has been described as a 'visionary in the world of spectacles'. His company, Max Wiseman & Co. was founded in 1898 and still operates from the Algha Works today.
In the 1930s, the factory quickly became a leading manufacturer of frames, including the timeless 'round-eye' style. From the gold National Health Service spectacles, which were universally available in this country for forty years, to those worn by Mahatma Gandhi, John Lennon and, more recently, Harry Potter and Johnny Depp, think of any famous gold-rimmed glasses of the twentieth century and they were manufactured here.
The workforce has dropped from 200 employees in the 1930s, to only fifteen now. The factory currently produces glasses under the Savile Row brand.
For more information on this important and enduring part of British frame making history, click on the links below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22766785
http://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/06/10/at-the-algha-spectacle-works/