private fittings, early viewings and future making slots
TANAKA EYEWEAR
Frames made once.
Changed by time.
Single-author eyewear by Gow Tanaka, Japan-born designer-maker based in London.
Compressed paper composite.
Face-framing geometry.
One maker from first cut to final fitting.
The frame is made once.
Time continues the work.
Form before logo.
Choice before decoration.
Fit before explanation.
Recognised with Heritage & Craft at the Surface Design Awards 2026.
Release 01
The first TANAKA language.
Type-I
A round lens held beneath a straight upper line.
Type-RO
A firmer contour drawn toward the cheekbone.
TANAKA is not for everyone, and is not meant to be. These frames are for the person who reads an object before wearing it, who has stopped buying logos, who would rather own one thing made once than replace many made quickly. Made from compressed paper composite, a TANAKA frame takes the marks of your wearing. It changes over time. That is the point.
No equivalent.
A unique material with its own weight, edge, warmth, and memory.
Cut.
Shaped.
Fitted.
Returned to the hand.
The frame is not designed to stay new.
It is designed to become yours.
Form before logo.
Fit before explanation.
Repair as memory.
Japan‑born, London‑based
From face to frame
Gow Tanaka spent decades shaping the face through hairstyling for photo shoots, learning the effect of proportion.
That eye now enters eyewear.
The frame is not treated as an accessory. It is a line placed on the face. Its weight, curve, edge, and silence all matter.
This is the origin of TANAKA, a face-framing discipline carried into an object made for time.
“I want my work to get better with age. I hope I do too.”