Would you wear glasses made out of coffee?

Eyeglasses made from coffee might sound like an odd idea, but the Ukrainian company Ochis, based in Kyiv, has developed innovative, designer eyewear made from recycled coffee grounds.

Photo courtesy of Ochis

The company has been making headlines worldwide with their eco-friendly and unique glasses. Ochis is the first company in the world to make coffee eyeglasses.

Photo courtesy of Ochis

Most sunglasses and eyeglasses are unfortunately made with petroleum-based products that are less than fantastic for the environment.

Photo courtesy of Ochis

However, Ochis' line of eyewear offers a sustainable alternative with a frame made out of old coffee grounds that would have otherwise ended up in the bin.

Photo courtesy of Ochis

According to a piece on Ochis glasses by Forbes magazine, the founder and CEO of Ochis Coffee, Maksym Havrylenko (right), wanted to find a way to make environmentally friendly eyewear, particularly after noticing all the waste created by plastic glasses frames.

Photo courtesy of Ochis

Maksym Havrylenko told Forbes, "I wanted to create something new and natural. So we started our search for a perfect material that can be recycled."

Havrylenko told the magazine that at first, he tested out different herbs such as mint, parsley, and cardamom; however, none of those options worked out.

Until one day, they found the best option to make a sustainable product. Havrylenko explained to Forbes, "Coffee was that perfect one because it is a very popular drink. People consume 2.5 million cups of coffee per day all over the world."

Photo courtesy of Ochis

So by using coffee, not only would Havrylenko's primary material for the frames be cheap if not free, but it could also be found easily and in abundance.

According to a video by Business Insider and an article on the company by Forbes, the process of making the glasses involves first drying out those damp coffee grounds.

Image: screenshot, Business Insider

Once dry, they grind up the coffee into a fine powder and blend them with flax and plant oils. In the Business Insider video about Ochis, an employee tells the news outlet that only natural plant products are used (the exact recipe is top secret.)

Photo courtesy of Ochis

Next the mixture is then shaped into bricks in a mould where sometimes they add decorative items such as dried flowers or coconut.

Photo courtesy of Ochis

Per Business Insider, the mixture is then put into a press so that the oil and coffee mixture can harden and dry out.

Photo courtesy of Ochis

The coffee bricks are then placed in a 3D printer where the different shapes needed to make the glasses are cut-out.

Photo courtesy of Ochis

The end result is not only stylish and resilient but also extremely environmentally friendly. And according to Ochis employees the glasses boast an added bonus for coffee lovers: they smell like coffee too.

Photo courtesy of Ochis

According to Forbes, "Ochis glasses frames biodegrade 100 times faster than standard plastic glasses. They also transform into a natural fertilizer for new plants if you put them in water or soil."

Photo courtesy of Ochis

Havrylenko told Forbes creating these sustainable glasses is essentially a dream come true, saying, "I always wanted to create something really useful and now, in the epoch of a coming ecological disaster because of the great quantity of plastic waste all over the world, I finally feel that I am on the right way."

Photo courtesy of Ochis

Ochis started making coffee eyeglasses around four years ago, and despite being based in Kyiv, the war hasn't slowed the company down despite constant blackouts, water shortages, and the threat of war.

A video by Business Insider showed how Ochis is fairing during the war in Ukraine. In the video, employees explain that the company was forced to close shop for two months after the Russian invasion.

However, the Kyiv-based company returned to work once the worst of the attack on the city had passed. Employees who work at Ochis told Business Insider that they were pleased to return to work again, as it helped them to regain a sense of normality.