Porsche Design Eyewear: When a Car Designer Reinvented Sunglasses

Porsche Design didn't start as an eyewear company — it started with a car. Specifically, one of the most influential automotive designs of the 20th century. That same design philosophy, built around the idea that good form should always follow function, eventually found its way onto people's faces, producing some of the most technically distinctive sunglasses in the industry.

From the Porsche 911 to an independent design studio

The story begins with Ferdinand Alexander Porsche — known as F. A. Porsche — the grandson of Porsche founder Ferdinand Porsche. In 1963, F. A. Porsche created the Porsche 911, a design that remains one of the most recognizable and enduring objects in automotive history. His guiding principle was simple: "If you analyze the function of an object, its form often becomes obvious" — a philosophy that would define everything he created afterward, far beyond the automotive world.

In 1972, F. A. Porsche founded his own independent design studio in Stuttgart, Germany, together with his brother Hans-Peter, with the explicit goal of extending Porsche's design principles beyond cars entirely. According to some accounts, the move was also partly a response to a broader restructuring at the family business that had pushed Porsche family members out of decision-making roles at the core automaker — prompting F. A. Porsche to build an independent creative outlet under his own name. The studio, and eventually the brand built around it, became known as Porsche Design.

Setting up in the Austrian Alps

In 1974, F. A. Porsche relocated his design studio to Zell am See, in the Austrian Alps — a location Porsche had already been associated with since the 1950s. From this base, the studio began producing a wide range of accessories under the "Porsche Boutique" and later "Design by F.A. Porsche" names, including luggage, clothing, watches, and eventually eyewear, all built around the same core design language established by the 911.

A breakthrough in eyewear: 1978

Porsche Design's first major breakthrough in eyewear came in 1978 with the P'8478, later known as the "Exclusive." The design introduced something genuinely new to the sunglasses market: an interchangeable lens system, allowing wearers to quickly swap lens colors to suit changing light conditions using a flip-lock mechanism at the bridge. Built with lightweight, high-grade titanium and scratch-resistant polycarbonate lenses, the P'8478 became an instant symbol of the brand's engineering-first approach to fashion.

The following year, in 1979, Porsche Design released the P'8479 "Shield" sunglasses — a small, visor-like design that became one of the brand's most enduring style icons after artist Yoko Ono began wearing them at public appearances, including a widely covered 1979 press conference. The P'8479 became so closely associated with Ono that it effectively became her personal trademark for years afterward.

Motorsport in every detail

Much of Porsche Design's eyewear continues to draw direct inspiration from automotive engineering. The brand's Hexagon Series, for example, incorporates the same distinctive hexagonal screws found in the Porsche 911 engine directly into the frame's titanium construction. Other designs, like the Targa Series, take their shape from the roll bar of the Porsche 911 Targa — translating a piece of structural automotive safety engineering directly into a titanium eyewear silhouette. Across nearly every collection, materials lean heavily on titanium and high-performance polymers, chosen for the same reasons they'd be chosen in a car: light weight, durability, and precision engineering.

A corporate evolution

In 2003, F. A. Porsche AG sold shares in the previously independent Porsche Design label to a subsidiary of Porsche itself, formally reorganizing the brand as Porsche Lifestyle GmbH & Co. KG, based in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Following further corporate restructuring in 2007, Porsche Design became part of Porsche SE, the holding company also known as the corporate parent of Volkswagen Group. In 2015, the original design studio was renamed Studio F. A. Porsche in memory of its founder, who passed away in 2012 — and it remains the studio responsible for developing all Porsche Design products, including eyewear, to this day. Porsche Design eyewear has been manufactured by Rodenstock, a German optical company with over 135 years of history, since the brand's earliest eyewear releases.

Where the brand stands today

Modern Porsche Design eyewear continues to lean into the brand's engineering-first identity, with technologies like Vision Drive lens coatings for glare reduction and enhanced contrast, alongside continued use of titanium and motorsport-referencing design details. Recent limited editions, including a 3D-printed titanium reissue of the original P'8479 Shield design for the brand's 50th anniversary, show a studio still finding new ways to apply advanced manufacturing techniques to decades-old design icons.