Vik Malhi: “The right pair of glasses does not change who you are. It reveals who you have always been”

That’s the vision behind his Birmingham-based independent eyewear brand, which takes inspiration from the classic tale: Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

For Malhi, the story is one of transformation – something he feels eyewear can help to reveal.

Malhi told OT about his journey to embracing eyewear and his passion for helping others portray the different versions of themselves through frames.

How many pairs of spectacles or sunglasses do you own?

I own 11 frames across my three J.Hyde collections. Each one earns its place.

What frame shapes, colours, or styles do you usually go for?

I match my eyewear to my clothes. What I reach for depends on what I am wearing, where I am going and how I want to show up. It is not a rule, it is a feeling. That is exactly the idea behind J.Hyde.

Jekyll and Hyde is not a horror story, it is a transformation story, the idea that one person contains more than one version of themselves. We live that every day: the professional version, the after-hours version, and the version that wants to make a mark and be remembered.

Can you describe your favourite pair?

A piece from the J.Hyde Signature collection, our made-to-order tier. Made from bio-based material and individually hand-painted, it is a completely open canvas. It belongs to whoever is wearing it. You customise it; you make the mark.

Mine is bold and distinctive, finished in a colourway that exists nowhere else. There is no other frame like it because it was designed to be mine.

We have matched frames to a client’s wardrobe and to another’s interior design. One piece was created to complement a client’s Lamborghini. When we say open canvas, we mean it.

Vik Malhi

A bold and distinctive frame is a favourite for Vik

Who would you pick as your style icon when it comes to eyewear?

Myself. After more than 20 years understanding how frames interact with faces, I stopped looking outward for reference. The best test of anything I design or wear is whether it works on me. I know my face better than anyone, and building J.Hyde has made that conviction sharper.

How long have you worn spectacles for, and what prompted you to go for your first sight test?

I have worn glasses since I was four years old. I was referred by my school. I am a -5.00 with cylinder. Glasses were never optional – they were just part of my face.

Growing up in Birmingham in the 1980s and 90s, glasses were not cool. They were something you endured. Something that happened to you rather than something you choose. I could not escape them. Eventually I decided I did not want to.

That is the Jekyll and Hyde transformation. Not running from who you are, becoming more of it. It took me from dispensing optician to optometrist, and eventually to founding J.Hyde. The whole journey traces back to a four-year-old who needed glasses and never stopped thinking about them.

The whole journey traces back to a four-year-old who needed glasses and never stopped thinking about them

Do you wear contact lenses?

Yes, and sometimes I wear contacts and still choose to put on a frame – no prescription required. That says everything about what good eyewear actually is. Eyewear is not a medical device you tolerate. It is something you reach for because of what it does to how you feel and how you are read. When an optometrist with no visual need that day still chooses to wear a frame, the case for great eyewear makes itself.

Vik Malhi

What does vision and eye health mean to you?

Everything. More than 20 years in practice and the conviction has not changed. A routine eye examination detects systemic disease, neurological change and vascular risk, not just refractive error. That message still does not reach enough people.

But here is what I have also learned: when the eyewear experience is genuinely premium, when the frame is considered and the expertise is there, people engage differently. They come back. They refer. They invest. The clinical case for eye health has always been strong. The case for premium independent eyewear is stronger than most people are currently realising. J.Hyde was built on both.

How important is eyewear to reflecting your personality?

It is not about surface, it is about style and presence. Your glasses sit at the centre of your face. They are the first thing people see and the last thing they forget. The right frame commands authority. The wrong one undermines everything else.

There is a version of you that has been waiting. More confident. More present. More defined. The right pair of glasses does not change who you are. It reveals who you have always been. That is not a brand line – it is something I have watched happen in our studios hundreds of times. Define your presence.

What are your top three tips for selecting the right pair of frames?

1. First: fit. Then fit. Then fit again. Before colour, before shape, before anything else. Ear-to-ear width, temple width, bridge fit. A beautiful frame that sits badly on the face is a wasted frame. Fit is where every J.Hyde studio appointment begins
2. Ignore the internet’s rules about face shapes. That thinking limits people unnecessarily. When you understand proportion and balance, a far wider range of styles work on any face than the folklore suggests. We do not follow a chart at J.Hyde – we look at the person in front of us
3. Take colour seriously. More seriously than you take it with your clothes. Your frame sits on your face, not your body. The right colour makes your complexion come alive. The wrong one does the opposite, quietly, every single day. It is one of the most transformative things good eyewear can do. It is also one of the most overlooked.