Commitment to quality

When did you establish Murano Eyewear, and what was your vision for the company?

I was born and raised in the heartland of Italian spectacle manufacturing in the north east of Italy. I held many different jobs within frame factories as a young man, trying to learn all I could. Then in 1998, I took a big step and moved to England to try and establish my newly branded Murano collection.

Using all of the contacts I had made within the industry, I wanted to create my own collection of affordable luxury Italian frames. I wanted the collection to give the end user a confidence in the frame they are wearing and to make them feel elegant. I was also committed to growing Murano on the values of great products and great personal customer service for independent opticians.

How did the company go about expanding its UK presence?

For years I worked alone as the director, rep, receptionist and packer, trying my hardest just to get by. Those early years were very testing, but through sheer determination, hard work and a commitment to stay true to the core values that I had envisioned for the company, I started to experience success.  

Our coverage of the UK slowly but surely increased as we had more and more agents join the team and Murano started to become a more recognisable brand. We now have a highly trained team of people dedicated to upholding what Murano now stands for; personal service and high quality.

Today, Murano Eyewear supplies a significant number of independent opticians across the UK and Ireland. With our current projections, we will be able to carry on growing whilst still being able to supply our personal customer service and quality that we pride ourselves on to new and existing customers. 

"I have been able to build the company I originally envisioned and now I have a team of people who not only share my vision for Murano Eyewear, but are as committed to delivering the quality of service I put at the heart of the company"

What plans are in place to celebrate 20 years of Murano?

For our 20^th anniversary we wanted to give back to all our customers who have supported us and enabled us to reach such a milestone. We are running numerous promotions throughout the year in our aid to give back to the customers that have helped us to come so far. To top all that off we are once again running our Venice Prize Draw and have introduced several runner-up prizes.

This exclusive promotion consists of two holidays for two people; one for the end user of the frame and one for the practice where they bought their frame from. There will also be seven second prizes of a luxury Italian hamper worth over £100 eligible to be won by practices that take part.

This gives our customers the ability to offer their customers a fantastic promotion as well as having an opportunity to win as well, at zero cost to themselves.

How does it feel to have established an eyewear brand that has been active for 20 years?

Enormous pride, to put it simply. I have been able to build the company I originally envisioned and now I have a team of people who not only share my vision for Murano Eyewear but are as committed to delivering the quality of service I put at the heart of the company.

What makes Murano stand out from other eyewear companies?

I think Murano Eyewear stands out as we offer the highest quality affordable Italian frames and offer customer service to match. The affordable luxury and the core value of great personal service have been fundamental in helping us stand out, as well as enabling us to grow and establish ourselves. 

We really care about the success and well-being of our customers, I think because we make this so clear to them they come to feel the same about us and it then becomes a team effort for us to all succeed.

Which frames from Murano’s back catalogue are highlights for the company?

One that I can recall is our ‘Mystique’ rimless frame, which was fantastically popular, as is the case with our rimless collection. However, this frame was so popular we ended up bringing it back with a slightly different shape under the name ‘Olympia,’ which is still going strong in the collection. 

Are there any new product launches that you can tell OT about?

We have just had several new styles come into the collection. The ‘Savona’ frame is a beautiful acetate frame with a singular line of Swarovski crystals hand set on each of the sides. The Parma frame is a rimless frame with Swarovski crystal decoration showing a beautiful gradient design down both sides. Finally, the ‘Imperia’ frame (pictured above) is an elegant lightweight titanium frame with three Swarovski Zirconia’s clasped into place on each side.

What are the company’s plans for the future?

We are now focusing on increasing our brand awareness and are moving into social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram to help us do this. Fundamentally, we want to carry on moving forward by keeping our eye on market trends and developing new designs that still fit into our signature style. 

Overall, we want to carry on growing as a company and to become the go-to brand for our type of frames. I think the most important thing to me is that we carry on moving forward but keep our core values at the forefront of everything we do.