Jacques Marie Mage's Jerome Mage on Eyewear, Craftsmanship, and Japan

As proud advocates of well-made and well-designed eyewear, Jacques Marie Mage have had a place on Seen Opticians’ shelves for a while now. Over the last ten years or so they’ve almost singlehandedly changed the luxury eyewear game. The coveting of Japanese craftsmanship, the production of detail-rich pieces interwoven with stories and history, the move towards timeless design - the Hollywood-based brand has been hugely influential.
Notoriously dedicated, JMM founder Jerome Mage is hard to pin down, but at the end of last year, all the stars aligned and Seen Opticians’ Head Honcho, Tareq managed to sit-down and grab a drink with him. In the half-hour chat, the pair covered a lot of ground, from Paris to Japan to the importance of story in objects to what it takes to create transformative, handcrafted glasses and sunglasses.
Whether you’re already a fan of JMM or you want to learn more, you’re in for a treat. Watch or read the entire conversation below.
Read a transcript of the interview and see our full range of Jacques Marie Mage eyewear at Seen.co.uk.

[@hekolu1361]

Absolutely obsessed with the brand. Bought 5 pairs this year. Quality design story telling and the quality is unmatched. Especially the titan models are the best glasses in the word. Upmost respect for this man.

[@bringtoreason]

Great interview Tareq and I'm well and truly a massive fan of JMM thanks to Seen!

[@IsaacRebel]

jacques marie mage quality is unmatched to any other eyewear brand

[@ShepProudfoot]

goes along with Matsuda. I have glasses from both brands.

[@dcode1000]

@@ShepProudfoot yeah just got into sunglasses and matsuda and JMM are currently my favorites!

[@adecentgamer3154]

​@ShepProudfoot about to be the same just got some jmms after my matsudas last year

[@kingchaos6050]

All praise goes to Japan!

[@jasonsalazar9760]

T Henri comes pretty close!! Also Japanese Handcrafted.

[@famebkny6675]

I like the JMM brand & styles I own two pairs, The Molino & The Devaux.

[@hassanskien3989]

Excellent inspirational interview ❤

[@Bob86339]

There's a color scheme called "Baltic" for Zephirin. Many sources online say Baltic is blue (named after the Baltic sea) while the actual frame is brown. Why is this?

[@drkesrf]

I love JMM. My favorite frames i own and i look forward to growing my collection

[@dibull_trades]

just bought my 5th pair today, its an addiction. Once you buy a pair of JMM you cannot buy anything else.

[@jasonsalazar9760]

Wow 😮 it’s probably wise to get them insured since they are almost 1,000 USD each! I own 2 JMM (Fumio & Zephirin) & 2 Matsuda M1028 forgot the other lol. T Henri is also pretty good so is Blake Kuwahara. Both Handcrafted in Japan great for Asian/Low Bridge facial structures.

[@dibull_trades]

@@jasonsalazar9760 matsuda is amazing quality too, but i prefer shapes from JMM.

[@DuncanGowers-yj4fo]

An absolute legend

[@ahsanumer3321]

Congratulations Seen team.Was waiting anxiously for this.❤❤

[@tastemakesyoulonely]

Very nice Interview, thank you!! It’s so hard to catch the Mystery of Jerome behind the Brand and know we can see him alive like he is and what he thinks! For me JMM is uncomparible to and other brand of eyewear and i will hope they can fix their quality Problems on the wirecore elements with Oxidation / fading

[@ilove2shopalways]

Jmm and ditas are the best glasses

[@burritomaker69]

Dita doesn’t even come close in terms of design, and overall execution. There designs are much too gaudy and try hard.

[@phantommah8042]

I have the mishima and nakahira very good

[@avmelidor]

Illuminating

[@vinotintoreggie69]

The Cody & Hemming 🔥

[@itsoonbedone]

When will they make the fellini model with gold arrow tips but without the gold wire showing?. I see in June they're coming out with the silver arrow tip model without wire showing. I just want it in gold

[@SeenOpticians]

sorry to say that isn't in the line up for this year... 3 new colours later 2024

[@natureins4644]

Great artistic frames. Just wish there were more pastel cool color choices for wider faces.

[@IsaacRebel]

they have plenty!

[@SeenOpticians]

Hey! There are definitely wider choices… like the latest Lucknow for example. Check it out

[@natureins4644]

@@SeenOpticians To start with, I have 6 JMM frames, mostly in titanium. Further, I'm quite aware of Lucknow and this frame , looking at the JMM website, comes in 2 blacks (one is black fade), one brown and one very dark blue that looks black to me. I can't wear brown or black as I'm so called "cool summer". Lot's of JMM frames tend to be black or brown. Instead I love JMM grey colors like platinum or charcoal or blue/grey like the storm or interesting blues like the indigo . Also I prefer classic frames like Torino, Dealan 53 or Felson. In summary finding those frames in the colors that suit me is challenging due to the fact that majority of releases tend to be slight variations on black or brown.

[@tastemakesyoulonely]

What Glasses are you and Jerome wearing?

[@marlon1171]

I fairly sure thoses are tom fords.....

[@akahina]

They could charge have as much without the over the top packaging.

[@elhydd1]

What model is Jerome wearing?

[@SeenOpticians]

The Caan from the Umit Collaboration

[@rajan4334]

@@SeenOpticiansand wat model of JMM are you wearing ??

[@rajan4334]

@@SeenOpticiansis caan from umit available

[@ShepProudfoot]

@@rajan4334Could be Vendome

[@godsbloodyhammer7090]

His hair needs an eyewear!!

[@minibus1351]

I wonder who the "competitors" he is referring to, who are imitating JMM

[@brothamanup]

Walk into any sunglass hut

[@minibus1351]

@@brothamanup he seems to have a specific brand in mind when talking about it.

[@leocusato5715]

I’m thinking Chrome Hearts.

[@_SPREZZATURA_McGEE_]

@@leocusato5715 Chrome and Louis V. seem to be doing that, and perhaps Celine, too. Chunky glasses have been around for 100+ yrs. Ask Michael Caine :) lol

[@harveythompson1756]

The Chinese are producing very high quality reproductions of many JMM styles at a tiny fraction of the ridiculously high price of the real ones.

[@harveythompson1756]

The Chinese reproductions are very high quality.