Wake up and smell the coffee: from your Ukrainian sunglasses
FILE PHOTO: Maksym Havrylenko, CEO of innovative OCHIS COFFEE eyewear brand, holds eco-friendly sunglasses as he picks up coffee waste in a cafe in Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's innovative OCHIS eyewear brand is getting customers to literally smell the coffee - by making sunglasses out of coffee waste.
Driven by an ambition to create eco-friendly yet fashionable sunglasses, OCHIS COFFEE CEO Maksym Havrylenko experimented with various herbs like mint, parsley, and cardamom, before he found the right natural material in coffee waste.
FILE PHOTO: A worker makes eco-friendly sunglasses ear pieces from coffee waste in workshop near Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Green industries already use coffee waste to produce furniture, cups, printing ink, and biofuel, but Havrylenko is a pioneer in using it to make sunglasses, which smell of the freshly brewed beverage.
"First, coffee is black which is a classic color of sunglasses which suits everything. Secondly, there are lots of coffee grounds in the world. There are millions of tonnes of coffee grounds in the world," Havrylenko told Reuters.
Havrylenko, who comes from a family of opticians and had 15 years of experience in the eyewear industry, had to dump some 300 samples before creating what he said were perfect OCHIS COFFEE sunglasses that are now available for $78-89.
FILE PHOTO: Maksym Havrylenko, CEO of innovative OCHIS COFFEE eyewear brand, shows eco-friendly sunglasses, made of coffee waste, in his workshop near Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
The main advantage of sunglasses made of coffee grounds and flax glued by vegetable oil is that if disposed, they turn into a fertilizer after 10 years, he said.
OCHIS COFFEE's first fund raising effort on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter raised $13,000, surpassing an initial $10,000 target and attracted customers from the United States, western Europe, Japan and Australia. Havrylenko said only 10% of clients were from Ukraine.
"Our super goal is to promote at least in Ukraine and in the entire world, first, the idea of production of clean products and, second, proper waste disposal," he said.
FILE PHOTO: A worker makes eco-friendly sunglasses ear pieces from coffee waste in workshop near Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
(This story has been refiled to fix typo in the headline.)
FILE PHOTO: A worker makes eco-friendly sunglass frames from coffee waste in workshop near Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
(Reporting by Margaryta Chornokondratenko and Gleb Garanich; writing by Anna Rzhevkina; Editing by Katya Golubkova and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
FILE PHOTO: Maksym Havrylenko, CEO of innovative OCHIS COFFEE eyewear brand, is seen in his workshop as he holds eco-friendly sunglasses, made of coffee waste, near Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb GaranichFILE PHOTO: Eco-friendly sunglass frames, made of coffee waste,are seen in workshop near Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb GaranichFILE PHOTO: Coffee waste, which is used for production of eco-friendly sunglasses, is seen in a workshop near Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb GaranichFILE PHOTO: A worker makes eco-friendly sunglass frames from coffee waste in workshop near Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb GaranichFILE PHOTO: Maksym Havrylenko, CEO of innovative OCHIS COFFEE eyewear brand, picks up coffee waste in a cafe in Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb GaranichFILE PHOTO: A cutter makes eco-friendly sunglass frames from coffee waste in workshop near Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb GaranichFILE PHOTO: Staff make eco-friendly sunglasses from coffee waste in workshop near Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb GaranichFILE PHOTO: Eco-friendly sunglass frames, made of coffee waste,are seen in workshop near Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb GaranichFILE PHOTO: Eco-friendly sunglass ear pieces, made of coffee waste,are seen in workshop near Kiev, Ukraine May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
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