Cutler and Gross × The Great Frog Modern Relics Triumph Aviator

The Piece in Focus

• The Cutler and Gross × The Great Frog Triumph Aviator is a limited-edition sunglass handcrafted from Japanese titanium in Sabae, Japan, and distinguished by Baroque-style sterling silver patterning along its rim wire and polished cabochon onyx stones set into the temples — making it the most jewellery-forward piece in the six-style Modern Relics collection launched in May 2026.
• The frame draws directly from The Great Frog’s archival Feather ring design, translating silversmithing heritage into the language of precision eyewear.
• Billy Idol fronts the campaign wearing the Triumph in its Gold/Black colourway, shot in Los Angeles alongside singer Staz Lindes.
• All six Modern Relics styles are handmade in Sabae and fitted with 100% UVA and UVB protective lenses; select pieces carry emblems cast in sterling silver and plated in 24-karat gold.

Design and Aesthetic

The Triumph reads as a classic aviator at distance; up close, it reveals itself as a piece of jewellery.

The oversized silhouette is immediately legible — a broad teardrop form that draws on decades of aviator precedent. What sets it apart is revealed only at close range. The rim wire, the structural metal strip that outlines both lenses, carries Baroque-style sterling silver detailing across its full circumference. This transforms a load-bearing element into an ornamental one, so that what appears minimal from across a room becomes dense with craft up close.

The cabochon onyx stones set into the temples deepen that register further. Polished and domed, they sit flush against the titanium with what Cutler and Gross describes as “an almost ceremonial gravitas.” Onyx is one of The Great Frog’s oldest materials — present in some of the Soho workshop’s earliest pieces — and its appearance here carries genuine historical weight rather than decorative convenience.

The Triumph is available in multiple colourways, including the Gold/Black version worn by Billy Idol in the campaign.

Materials and Construction

Pure Japanese titanium from Sabae defines how the Triumph sits on the face.

The frame is produced at Cutler and Gross’s dedicated atelier in Sabae, a city in Fukui Prefecture responsible for approximately 95% of all Japanese-made eyewear. Titanium at this grade provides structural rigidity without the weight that would compromise extended wear — a combination that acetate and standard metal alloys cannot replicate at the same thickness.

The Baroque detailing is cast in sterling silver, the same material forged by hand in The Great Frog‘s Soho workshop for more than fifty years. Three of the six styles across Modern Relics additionally feature emblems plated in 24-karat gold — described by the brand as “a memento mori rendered in precious metal.” All styles carry lenses with full UVA and UVB protection.

Heritage and Lineage

Two independent craft houses with overlapping values have been producing objects meant to outlast their owners since the early 1970s.

Cutler and Gross was founded in 1969 by Graham Cutler and Tony Gross in Knightsbridge. The Great Frog was established in the early 1970s by Paterson Riley and Carol Lehtonen-Riley in Soho, its skull, bone and rose motifs becoming some of the most recognisable forms in British craft jewellery. Now led by their son Reino Lehtonen-Riley, the family business has operated without interruption for over five decades.

The Triumph’s design source is specific: it derives directly from The Great Frog’s bestselling archival Feather ring. That design lineage gives the piece a credibility that collaborative eyewear rarely achieves. As Reino Lehtonen-Riley has stated of the collection: “This collection is a homage to the spirit of the early ’70s, where anything goes and experimentation is key. We’ve mixed bold twists on timeless silhouettes with contemporary designs, drawing on The Great Frog’s back catalogue of silversmithing and Cutler and Gross’s flair for expertly crafting frames, alongside modern Japanese titanium.”

The Collection in Context

The Triumph is the apex of a six-piece set, each style named after a person or place with direct significance to both houses.

The Paterson takes its name from co-founder Paterson Riley, who “was never seen without his signature oversized aviators back in those early days,” and carries skull and bones motifs on its temples. The Carol, named after Carol Lehtonen-Riley, is a frameless rectangular style with bones and roses rendered in sterling silver. The Ganton is a navigator silhouette in Japanese titanium; the Capri, worn in the campaign by singer Staz Lindes, is a rectangular style with bones and skull detailing; the Paisley is a cat-eye that channels 1970s bohemian glamour.

Against the broader landscape of luxury eyewear collaborations, Modern Relics is unusual for its specificity. The motifs are not adapted for commercial appeal; they originate in The Great Frog’s actual archive and carry the craft context of fifty-plus years of Soho silversmithing. The collection launched in May 2026 and is available through Cutler and Gross stores, The Great Frog stores, cutlerandgross.com, and selected stockists globally.

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