Every so often someone picks a frame up off the tray and turns it over instead of putting it on. They look at the edge of the acetate, at the color moving through it, at the way the inside of the temple is finished where nobody will ever see it. Nine times out of ten there’s a Sama in their hands. It’s one of the reasons we carry the brand at City Optix, on Chestnut Street in San Francisco’s Marina District.
Sama was built on a jeweler’s instincts rather than an optical company’s, and it shows up in exactly the places most frames stay plain. Here’s what the house is, what the frames actually do differently, and how to tell whether one belongs on your face. If you want to see where Sama sits among the other independent houses we carry, start there.
What is Sama Eyewear?
Sama is a luxury eyewear house founded by designer Sheila Vance. The brand credits Vance with introducing the world to luxury eyewear more than two decades ago and describes her as an internationally renowned designer and an eyewear industry pioneer.
Vance named the company Sama, which she describes as an ancient term meaning “no beginning and no end,” and says it personifies her underlying philosophy of life.
Sama tells the rest of the story plainly on its own site. Vance started the Sam Vance Foundation after losing her son Sam, and built the eyewear company as the thing that would fund it. None of that is written on the frames. You’d never know it from the tray.
What makes Sama frames different?
The making is Japanese, all of it. Sama manufactures, assembles, and hand-finishes its eyewear in Japan, and says it does so for a level of quality it considers unachievable anywhere else on earth. Hand-finishing is the part that matters at the counter. It’s what you’re feeling when you run a thumb along an edge and it’s smooth in a way that surprises you.
Then there is the material list, which reads more like a jeweler’s bench than a frame catalog: Japanese zyl acetate, titanium, precious metals, precious and semi-precious gems, Swarovski crystals, and nickel-free plating.
Titanium is a particular point of pride for the house. Sama says it pioneered the introduction of 100% pure titanium to the optical industry, and by the brand’s own account its 1001 Nights collection was the first to set precious stones into pure titanium. Whatever you make of the claim, the ambition behind it is the useful part: this is a company that treats a frame as something to be constructed, not just molded.
Sama lists a wide lens range on its own site too, from optical glass and CR-39 to photochromic, gradient, multi-gradient, and polarized. What’s actually orderable on a given frame is a conversation for the counter, and a short one.
The house runs four collections: Sama Sun, Sama Optical, Torus Sun, and Torus Optical.
Who Sama Eyewear is for
This is the frame for the person who thinks of glasses as jewelry.
Not costume, not decoration. Jewelry, in the sense of an object made well enough to be examined up close, with materials chosen because they’re good rather than because they’re cheap to work with. If you own one watch you actually care about, or you buy earrings the way other people buy shoes, Sama is speaking a language you already know.
It suits the person who’s done with disposable eyewear. Someone who’s cycled through three forgettable pairs and would rather have one frame they look forward to putting on.
It suits people who want to be seen in their glasses rather than through them. Sama frames tend to hold a room a little. These aren’t shy. If the goal is for nobody to notice you changed anything, we’ve got quieter houses in the shop and we’ll happily point you to them.
And it suits anyone whose skin has objected to metal in the past. Sama specifies nickel-free plating, so if a previous pair left you red behind the ears, this is a reasonable place to start again.
How to tell if Sama is right for you
A few honest things worth knowing before you come in:
- Look at it before you wear it. The finish work is the argument. Turn the frame over, look at the temple’s inside edge, look at how the color sits inside the acetate rather than on top of it. That tells you most of what you need to know.
- Decide how much presence you want. If you want something people comment on, that’s a feature. If you want invisible, say so and we’ll move you to a different tray.
- Bring the rest of your life with you. How you dress, what metals you already wear, whether your jewelry runs warm or cool. Sama sits inside an overall look and it’s easier to choose when we can see the whole picture.
- Come in ready to be fitted. A well-made frame that sits wrong is still a frame that sits wrong. Getting the fit right is the part that’s ours, and it takes a few minutes at the counter, not a guess online.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I try Sama Eyewear in San Francisco?
At City Optix, 2154 Chestnut Street, in the Marina District. We carry Sama and we will fit the frame properly to your face at the counter.
Where are Sama frames made?
In Japan. Sama says it manufactures, assembles, and hand-finishes all of its eyewear there, for a level of quality it considers unachievable anywhere else on earth.
What are Sama frames made of?
The brand lists Japanese zyl acetate, titanium, precious metals, precious and semi-precious gems, Swarovski crystals, and nickel-free plating. Sama also says it pioneered the introduction of 100% pure titanium to the optical industry.
Are Sama frames good for sensitive skin?
Sama specifies nickel-free plating. If metal has bothered you before, come in and wear one for a few minutes and see how it sits.
Come try a pair on Chestnut Street
Sama is a brand that rewards handling. The finish, the weight of a set stone, the depth in a piece of Japanese acetate: none of it survives a product photo, and none of it is the sort of thing you can decide on from a screen. Come try them on at City Optix on Chestnut Street and turn one over in your hands. We’ve spent thirty years on this block putting Marina faces in frames that were chosen rather than settled for, and this is one we enjoy handing across the counter.