91
- Smoked Oak front
- Smoked Eucalyptus
- Smoked Oak
Brand in focus / September / Rolf, Tyrol
Rolf wood eyewear,
handmade in Austria
Eleven woods. Nineteen ways to layer them.
Rolf build their wood collections by hand in a small workshop in the Austrian Alps. No screws, no metal, and nothing on the frame that has not earned its place. They are not in many shops, and that is rather the point of them.
What Rolf are up to
A hinge with no screws and no metal
The industry settled on screws and metal about a century ago, so Rolf went off and invented a hinge that needs neither. It is one piece, built into the frame itself. Nothing works loose, nothing goes missing, and there is no metal for sensitive skin to take issue with.
Layered veneer, not carved wood
Sheets of wood shaved almost to paper, stacked in alternating directions and pressed into one piece. It is why something with this much presence sits so lightly on you, and why it holds its shape for years rather than moving about the way solid wood would.
How Rolf source and make it
That is the promise Rolf lead with. By their account: wood sourced close to home, a workshop working its way to energy independence, beehives on the roof, and everything from the frames to the display trays made in house.
Ninety five awards later
Rolf began with moped brakes and a milking machine
In 2009 Roland Wolf was in a basement in Tyrol trying to work out how you make a pair of glasses out of wood, using moped brakes, an old milking machine and whatever else was lying about. Two years later that experiment took the Silmo d'Or in Paris. The awards have not really stopped since, and it is still the same family in the same valley.
- 2009Silmo d'Or, ParisTechnology and innovation
- 2010Red Dot AwardFor a wooden frame called Olympia
- 2012Red Dot AwardFor the stone collection
- 2014Red Dot AwardFor a frame in buffalo horn
- 2018Red Dot AwardFashion design
- 2024Plus X AwardAnd Good Design Australia, gold
- 2025Red Dot Award, twice overProduct design and sustainable design
- 2025Certified Sustainable EyewearTwo years running
The woods
What a Rolf colorway number means
Every number is a recipe.
A Rolf has a name and a number. The name is the shape, and every last one of them is a car. Pantera, Seville, Montclair, Roadmaster, Capri, Cobra. Rolf's design language came out of classic cars right at the start and nobody has seen a reason to stop. The number tells you what the frame is made of, three or four woods in a set order, the first one being the face you see.
One thing worth knowing before you go looking. The two wood collections number themselves separately, so a 94 and a 204 are different frames rather than variations on a theme. Evolved runs in the nineties and low hundreds, Excellence in the two hundreds. Have a wander through and see which ones catch you.
Evolved
Fifteen colorways on the board92
- Smoked Oak front
- Maple
- Smoked Oak
93
- Smoked Oak front
- Smoked Eucalyptus
- Beech
- Walnut
94
- Walnut front
- Beech
- Walnut
95
- Steamed Robinia front
- Maple
- Tineo
- Steamed Robinia
96
- Smoked Cherry front
- Smoked Eucalyptus
- Smoked Cherry
97
- Silver/Whitewood front
- Smoked Cherry
- Silver/Whitewood
98
- Smoked Cherry front
- Maple
- Walnut
99
- Silver/Whitewood front
- Smoked Cherry
- Maple
- Silver/Whitewood
108
- Silver/Whitewood front
- Smoked Cherry
- Silver Oak
109
- Silver Oak front
- Walnut
- Smoked Oak
110
- Smoked Oak Bright front
- Beech
- Walnut
- Beech
130
- Smoked Oak front
- Smoked Eucalyptus
- Maple
- Smoked Oak
131
- Smoked Oak front
- Walnut
- Silver/Whitewood
133
- Walnut front
- Beech
- Smoked Cherry
- Smoked Oak
Excellence
Four colorways on the board202
- Silver Oak front
- Smoked Eucalyptus
- Silver Oak
204
- Smoked Oak front
- Walnut
- Smoked Eucalyptus
- Walnut
206
- Smoked Cherry front
- Smoked Eucalyptus
- Smoked Cherry
207
- Smoked Oak front
- Smoked Eucalyptus
- Smoked Oak
Front face listed first. Not every number is made in every shape, so ask us what we have in yours.
Twisted
90°
Twisted wood, with the grain turned across the front
For the Twisted frames the wood gets turned a quarter turn before it is pressed, so the grain runs across the front instead of along it. You end up with banding and figure that the very same woods would never give you the ordinary way round. It is a small idea with a big effect, and it is the sort of thing Rolf do for the fun of it. Look for 130, 131 and 133.
Where to buy one
Where to buy Rolf wood frames
Rolf will tell you the same thing.
Rolf are refreshingly blunt about this on their own site. Looking at pictures is not the same as holding one, and if you want the real thing you get off the internet and go and find a partner shop. There are not many of us. Rolf is made by one family in one valley at the pace a family can manage, which means it does not turn up in every shop, and it does not turn up on every face either. We have carried it in New York for years.
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We keep it on the board
Plenty of shops will show you a catalogue and order one in for you. We keep the range here, so you can pick two up, hold them side by side and put them on.
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We cut the lenses here
Wood is unforgiving to work with and there is no second attempt if it goes wrong, which is the honest reason most shops leave it alone. We do this in house and have done for years.
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We make them fit
Most models take a flexible temple that shapes quietly to your head, plus buffalo horn tips or nose pads if you fancy them. Any of it can be added later, so the frame keeps up with you.
Wearing one
What a wood frame is like to wear
Easy is rather the point.
Rolf take out of a frame anything that does not need to be there. What is left asks almost nothing of you.
Maintenance free
Sealed and finished. Nothing to oil, nothing to treat, nothing to book in for.
Barely there
Among the lightest frames made anywhere. Most people stop noticing them by lunchtime.
Antistatic
Wood holds no charge, so dust and lint do not go looking for it the way they do with plastic.
Kind to skin
No metal anywhere, hinge included, so there is no nickel in contact with skin.
Come and hold one
Try Rolf wood frames in New York City
The weight is the argument.
Pick a pair up and feel how little there is to them, then look along the edge and count the layers. Our opticians will walk you through the woods and find the shape that suits your face, and there is no rush about any of it. Rolf wood is on the board at all three shops through September.
Upper East Side
1409 3rd Avenue
212 249 6365
Chelsea
173 7th Avenue
212 627 4488
Carroll Gardens
315 Court Street
718 596 3740
Questions
Rolf wood eyewear, answered
What do the numbers on Rolf frames mean?
Every Rolf wood frame carries a name and a number. The name is the shape and the number is the colorway, which tells you exactly which woods were layered to build it and in what order. The first wood listed is the front face you see. A 93, for example, is smoked oak over smoked eucalyptus over beech over walnut.
What is the difference between Rolf Evolved and Rolf Excellence?
They are two separate wood collections with separate numbering, so the numbers do not carry across. Evolved runs in the nineties and low hundreds. Excellence runs in the two hundreds. A 94 and a 204 are different frames rather than variations on one design.
What is a Rolf Twisted frame?
For the Twisted colorways the veneer is turned a quarter turn before it is pressed, so the grain runs across the front of the frame instead of along it. The same woods produce banding and figure you would never get the ordinary way round. Look for 130, 131 and 133.
Are wood eyeglasses durable?
Rolf frames are built from layers of veneer pressed into one piece with the grain alternating, which is what stops wood moving and splitting the way a solid carved frame would. The hinge is part of the frame rather than a separate screwed fitting, so there is nothing to work loose over time.
Can Rolf wood frames take prescription lenses?
Yes. Wood is unforgiving to work with and there is no second attempt if a cut goes wrong, which is the honest reason many shops will not glaze it. We cut and fit lenses for Rolf frames in house.
Is Rolf Substance the same as Rolf wood?
No. Rolf Substance is a separate collection, 3D printed from a plant based bioplastic derived from castor beans rather than layered from wood veneer. It shares the screwless metal free hinge but it is a different material entirely.
Where can I try on Rolf frames in New York City?
Rolf wood is on the board at all three Visionary Optics shops: the Upper East Side at 1409 3rd Avenue, Chelsea at 173 7th Avenue, and Carroll Gardens at 315 Court Street. We keep the range in the shops rather than ordering in from a catalogue, so you can hold two side by side.