I recently had coffee with a friend at a local cafe in London; the corner was sun-soaked and I, quite deliberately, sat facing away from the blistering sun. My friend, however, did not. Rather, she insisted she face it, soon finding herself quite desperate for a pair of sunglasses. She rummaged through her bag, taking out what looked like a joke taking form as a set of white plastic, asymmetrical-rimmed shades that, when worn, looked as though she were hesitantly raising a brow.
Turns out, it was a joke. Or sort of a joke. She’d found them on the road and recognised them from a TikTok video, jestingly adamant at their looming ascent to mainstream fashion. “The next big thing, it’s only a matter of days before you’re gagging for a pair,” she declared with great emphasis, as she fleetingly found solace from the sun. They were quite the conversation starter and a means for much guffaw on the cafe’s corner but, being tat and tat they were, the lenses offered no UV protection ruling such solace redundant. Nonetheless, it was blindingly bright. What choice did she have?
I occasionally find myself sensorily deprived when I wear sunglasses. My hearing becomes impaired as well as my vision and I find myself somewhat subconsciously removing them, only to lose them as a result. This is no deterrent; I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, fashion is my faith and there’s no better accessory than a solid set of shades. I’m none the wiser.
The caveat, of course, is that like many things in life, they come at a cost – not just a monetary one but an environmental one, too. Glasses are mostly made from plastic (the flaws of which, at this point, should be common knowledge) and they’re produced en masse. It’s a bit of a catch-22, given the necessity of glasses to some, the greed of others (guilty) and a massive lack of material alternatives. It’s this that the team at Ochis are reckoning with, reimagining a future where we can protect the planet, protect our eyes – and enjoy both the fundamental and the finer things in life. I dig it.
Ochis is a Ukrainian brand, co-founded by Max Havrylenko and Akim Karpach in 2019. Ochis uses spent coffee granules collected from local cafes in Kyiv to make luxury eyewear that is produced sustainably. Hundreds of miles yet just a Zoom call away, I chat with Max about his eyewear business, Ochis.
Optics is in Max’s DNA. His parents met whilst working at the Izum Optical and Mechanical plant, once one of the biggest optical factories in the former USSR. After the Soviet Union collapsed, his parents continued in the optic trade, moving to Kyiv to both sell and upcycle glasses frames at the Haymarket (Sinnyi Rynok). It was here that Max sold his first pair of glasses.
Decades on, and both optics and upcycling remain core pillars in Max’s practice. This, combined with his distaste for the irreparable harm of plastic on the planet, sparked his enquiry into an alternative material that could be used for making glasses frames. His early attempts began with cellulose acetate and cork. It wasn’t quite right. He began pressing natural materials from parsley, rosemary to cinnamon and tumeric. Then, he discovered coffee.
“I didn’t want to make anything from plastic, there’s too much of it already; we don’t need anymore. Before I started producing my own glasses, I needed to find an organic, recyclable, biodegradable alternative,” he says. “After a long and laborious search, I found coffee.”
“Used coffee is dark in colour, it’s global and it’s a free waste stream in a high quantity,” he says. High quantity, indeed. I dread to think how much coffee I get through. And, interestingly, the duo aren’t the only entrepreneurs to recognise coffee’s potential – there’s a London-based start up, BioBean, using it to make biofuel to power London buses. “It has a really interesting molecular structure which makes for very strong bonds, and therefore durability, when we mix it with our vegetable oil-based bio-polymer adhesive. This is exactly what you want in a pair of glasses.”
Of course, it’s not as simple as grind, run the shot, dispose of the grains and bosh, sunglasses, as the Ochis team soon realised. After extensive testing, it became apparent that between collecting the used coffee from cafes to the final tangible product, there are 39 steps including further grinding, drying, pressing, SNC cutting, polishing, assembling; much of which takes place by hand.
Waste, being a core founding pillar, is also a core practice; the team collects anything and everything that is cut off from a frame. At current, not being a thermoplastic, waste cannot be melted down and reused. It can, however, be used as a filling substance in new products to come. “We’re looking to expand to furniture, so we might use it to build this,” Max tells me. And, research is underway into a material that can be melted down and reused but this will likely require a plastic component which the team are not keen on.
So, how long does it take to biodegrade? “Our current testing suggests it begins to biodegrade around the ten year mark, they’re currently not compostable but we’re always looking for ways to change this.” Ten years is nothing when juxtaposed with plastic. Plus, since we’re trying to curb trend-based hyper-consumption, I’d argue a versatile, durable and long lasting pair of glasses should last you at least that long, if not longer. My favourite pair of sunglasses were my mum’s from the eighties’. Stylish as ever and still going strong.
Ochis recognise that versatility is a necessity. The result of which being smaller capsule collections of rims that reference classic and timeless shapes with a unique touch. Ochis’ most recent collection ‘Tsvit’, meaning bloom in Ukrainian, incorporates petals from sunflowers, marigolds and cornflowers grown in Ukraine. Mentions of these flowers permeate Ukrainian folklore, the country’s songs and poems; yellow sunflowers representing Ukraine’s unshakable will (volya), red marigolds symbolising infinite strength (syla) and blue cornflowers for beauty (krasa), all paying homage to the founders’ homeland in a time of such turmoil as a result of Russia’s invasion.
“Each frame from this collection carries a piece of Ukraine, and together they form a colourful wreath of our culture. We are different, but we are united by one territory, one love, and one desire to live in a peaceful and independent country,” the founders share. “To flourish, blossom, and bloom on our land.”
Max tells me about plans to expand across the USA and Europe, new products, sister brands and shifting to renewable energy resources as Ochis grows. “Entering markets that are saturated by big players with a new material and trying to acquire market shares is certainly a challenge,” he says. It’s been far from smooth sailing, all things considered. As a result of the war, Ochis had to downscale and pause but, in true Ukrainian spirit, the team remains strong and determined. How can we support Ukraine during this time? “Donate, educate yourself and talk about it with others.”
Ochis provides a collection of resources for doing exactly this, including where to donate and trustworthy media sources. Please find them here.