Combining utility, fashion, and sustainability. Ochis are the first glasses to use ground coffee as principal material.
Over 2 billion coffee cups served worldwide each day. As a result, a vast amount of coffee grounds is being thrown away, even though they are far from useless. Coffee grounds can be used as fertilizer for your plants, repel certain insects and pests, for compost, natural dye, home-made exfoliating product for your skin... and now for eyewear!
This idea came from Max Havryenko in Kyiv, Ukraine. Heavily concerned about the plastic pollution and over-consumerism, Havryenko decided to create glasses that would be safe for his clients and for the planet. In his interview for the BBC, Havryenko said:
“ Morally and intellectually, I couldn't allow myself to make plastic glasses.”
Instead, he first started with prototypes using rice, wood or even herbs before coming up with the idea of using coffee grounds. The reasoning behind it came from the black colour of the coffee grounds (which is a classic colour for glasses) as well as the fact that billions of coffee cups are being served everyday with the grounds often being thrown away.
The recipe for success:
These eco friendly glasses include combining:
coffee grounds
flax (a food and fibre crop)
vegetable oil
The mix is pressed, carved, soaked and the hand-polished for better presentation. This technique makes the glasses biodegrade 100% faster than plastic. It also creates a material that is very light, with an original pattern that looks very stylish. Also, do not worry, even though they are made out of coffee grounds they will not dissolve into an espresso when it rains. They are totally water resistant.
Oh! A great detail for coffee lovers: they actually smell like coffee for a few months!
Interested? Get your own pair of eyewear from Ochis before it's too Latte.
Article by:
Lena Fix
Editor in chief at The ComPost
Pictures from:
Unsplash
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