Eco Ocean Kohinga Mōhiti Karu by Eco Eyewear

Eco Ocean Kohinga Mōhiti Karu by Eco Eyewear is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award Koura in Hoahoa Hua Toitū, Kaupapa me te Hoahoa Kākāriki Competition Category.

KouraHua Toitū· 2021

Eco Ocean Kohinga Mōhiti Karu

by Eco Eyewear

Client: Eco Eyewear

A' Design Award Koura Winner in Hua Toitū Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #116118

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Colors

The Design

About Eco Ocean Kohinga Mōhiti Karu

Ko Eco Ocean he kohinga mōhiti karu, arā he anga whakatika kanohi me he anga ārai rā, i hangaia mai i te kirihou moana hangarua. Ka ahu mai te rawa i ngā taura tawhito, ngā kupenga me ngā kupenga toia i kohia mai i te moana e tētahi whakahaere horoi moana. Ka horoia, ka tapahia, ka tukatukahia te para hei ngā pire iti, ka whakarewaina aua pire ki te tarai werohanga hei anga māmā, ngāwari hoki. He kanapa kore, he ātete rakuraku te otinga o ngā anga, i ngā tae i whakaawetia e te moana, ā, he hinihini āhua-ngaru e tohu ana i te pūtakenga o te rawa. Ka tukuna ia anga i roto i tētahi pūkoro i hangaia mai i te kakau PET hangarua.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Koura

Ko Eco Ocean Kohinga Mōhiti Karu te toa o te A' Design Award Koura, he whakaaetanga tino whai mana e hoatu ana ki ngā hoahoa kōeke tuatahi, whakamīharo me te hiranga. Ko ngā toa Koura he mahi tino auaha, he tirohanga mamao, he kanapa ahi, e whakaatu ana i te pūmanawa, te mātauranga me te tohungatanga o ā rātou kaihoahoa. E tūmanakohia ana ko Eco Ocean Kohinga Mōhiti Karu he hanganga tūnga e whakatū ana i ngā ia, he whakanuia rawa, e kawe mai ana i te uara kāore anō kia kitea. Ko tēnei hoahoa i toa i te Koura he kaupapa whakamīharo, whakahonoretia e whakawhānui ana i ngā rohe o te toi, te pūtaiao, te hoahoa me te hangarau. Ka whakaara a Eco Ocean Kohinga Mōhiti Karu i te hiahia nui, ka whakaoho i te kaingākau, ka whakatenatena i te auaha, ā, ka whakamīharo i a tātou.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Eco Ocean optical and sun frames are made from recycled ocean plastic waste, such as old ropes from the maritime industry. The idea behind the collection is to help clean the oceans while showing off plastic waste as a resource that can be used over and over again.
The collection consists of bold yet easy-to-wear frames. They are lightweight and super comfortable with a smooth, matte finish in ocean-inspired shades. A wave-shaped hinge hints at the story behind the frames without being too outspoken. Each frame comes in a case made from recycled PET fabric.
Dimensions & Packaging: Approximately 150 x 20 x 50 mm.
The recycled polypropylene makes the frames lightweight and flexible. The coating has a hard top layer, ensuring that the frames keep their good appearance and last for a long time.
The frames come in a case made from recycled PET fabric.
Tags: Glasses, eyewear, frames, sunglasses, Ocean plastic, Ocean clean-up, Sustainable, Recycled, optical, sun
Production Technology: To gather fishing nets, ropes, and trawls from the ocean, we teamed up with Waste Free Oceans, an NGO that works with local fishermen who collect the used plastic. These items then get checked, cleaned, cut, dried, and prepped. After that they get extruded into the plastic granules that in turn is injection molded into our Eco Ocean frames. We add a little bit of pigment and also a process stabilizer that ensures that the frames can be recycled again.
Design Challenge: The main challenge was to achieve a high-quality level of the material and a well-balanced colour palette without using virgin material. For the first tests, the material was much too soft to be durable enough as eyewear. The solution was to add a little bit of calcium to the material in order to increase hardness while maintaining high flexibility in the material. We also adjusted the design to allow for slightly thicker dimensions, which turned out to have aesthetic advantages as well.

The surface coating was initially too soft, prone to scratching, and generally too sensitive when inserting glass lenses. We tried several surface coating methods since Polypropylene is generally difficult to coat. It turned out that the material requires a much longer drying time than our regular Biobased material before coating. We ended up with a very good scratch-resistant matte finish.

In terms of colouring the material, the first tests included simply painting the frames after the injection molding. This did give a hard surface, but was not satisfactory as the paint may shave off after long-term use. Also, the paint contains toxic substances and decrease recyclability of the frames. Instead, pigment was added to the master batch before injection, and after many tests we had a good looking colour range
Research: Research was initially conducted on possible reliable suppliers of the material, and we ultimately decided to use the material sourced by Waste Free Oceans, who conduct regular ocean clean-up missions.

Research was conducted on possible ways to manufacture the material in order to achieve the best possible material properties suited for eyewear frames. The ideal manufacturing process was to receive the material in pellet-form and injection mold it for good precision of shape. This also suited our existing know-how in eyewear manufacturing.

Our previous eyewear collections provided sufficient knowledge and good channels to find out whether consumers would be interested in this type of product.
Inspiration: We wanted to turn the trend of littering the oceans by showing that plastic waste is a valuable resource to be re-used over and over. What better way to do that than to turn it into an everyday object used by many people? We believe that big change comes in the form of many small ones, and therefore our goal was to make the collection attractive to as many as possible, both through well-balanced aesthetics and comfort as well as a low price point.
Project Duration: Project duration was approximately one year and was conducted in Stockholm, Sweden as well as in Wenzhou, China.
Operation Flow: The Eyewear collection will be sold mainly through optical stores all over the world. The collection will also retail in some selected clothing stores as well as online through our website, eco-eyewear.com.

The packaging for the frames is also made to tell the story of the frame origin of recycled ocean plastics.