When the mountains glow …
Some names simply hang above shop windows. Others etch themselves indelibly into a city’s memory. Alpenglühn is one of the latter.
More than the name of an optician’s shop, it is a word of primal force – one that summons that magical moment when the last rays of sun touch the Alpine peaks and the rock begins to glow a deep crimson.
A story that began in 1995
In the heart of Zurich’s old town, Kai Müller and Markus Moser laid the foundation for an extraordinary place in November 1995.
Their vision reached far beyond an ordinary eyewear shop: this was to be a place where craftsmanship and courage, design and personality, quality and human warmth would come together.
With modest means but great determination, the founders shaped the face of their shop with their own hands. That includes the striking rock wall, later gilded, which still bears witness to those beginnings today – as if a piece of the Alps had been lifted from its home and given a new one in the middle of Zurich.
Far from interchangeable shop windows and the dominance of big brand names, Alpenglühn focuses on independent designs and extraordinary shapes, where Swiss craftsmanship meets international creativity.
Because this is about far more than selling glasses: it is about helping people express their personality and their very own view of the world. Not every eye is looking for the same thing. And not every person is born to be like everyone else.
A constancy that knows no compromise
More than three decades have passed. Fashions changed, tastes shifted, names came and went.
At the end of 2025, Alpenglühn celebrated its 30th anniversary – and a year later, for BLICKFANG’s own 30th anniversary, it was chosen as one of 30 Zurich shops.
Yet in a city like Zurich, which moves ever faster and keeps changing its face, Alpenglühn has kept its identity – open to the new without betraying its roots. After all, a mountain does not move just because the wind changes direction.
You might walk past this shop without suspecting the story behind its understated façade. But whoever discovers it understands that some treasures need no grand entrance. Their story is monument enough.
Alpenglühn is not simply a shop that has outlasted time, but a place that has made time itself the witness of its worth.
This is how I see this place …
A rare piece of Zurich’s soul. A corner you never forget.
ALPENGLÜHN
It does not chase the light. It carries its glow within.
It does not fight against time. It rises above its whims.
For true greatness needs no noise to remain unforgettable.
Now at Alpenglühn: From 14 to 28 November 2026, a special eyewear collection to try on. Find out more →
📍 Nägelihof 1, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland
alpengluehn.ch/brillen