GHP January 2016

ghp January 2016 | 33 our company in 60 seconds Please tell us about the products you produce. We make wonderful and unique sunglasses from old, used aircraft material. Some styles are polished to high gloss; others still wear the original paint of the aircraft. The intention is no “greenwashing”, but give some pieces of metal a second life that tells a story about flying and travelling around the world. Who are your clients? As we are a young start up we are just looking out for our first clients. We know we will find them in the aviation business, in motorsports and in the collectors scene. It will be almost the same people who also love to spend a lot of money for an expensive mechanical watch. What makes you unique? As used airplane material is quite rare also every sunglass made by hand out of it of it is a unique piece of handcrafting. Same for the accessories like the handmade wooden boxes of oak wood which used to be the parquet floor of the airport in Kiev / Ukraine. What’s the biggest challenge facing you at present? Actually we are installing a serial production with small manufacturers in Germany. It’s quite difficult to produce eyewear from a material that nobody used before. What’s the aim for your business? On the one side making people happy to have found a unique product that can tell a special story. On the other side meeting exceptional people all over the world that we would never have met without this crazy idea. What’s your company’s biggest challenge? The biggest challenge was to open our own factory 4 years ago, to realize after a certain time that this was not a good idea - and still not to give up. Please give us some examples of business people you admire and tell us why. Entrepreneurs with visions like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Enzo Ferrari or Levi Strauss: Because they al- ways believed in their ideas and never lost their goals. Name: Martin Graf Company: AIRBORN eyewear Email: [email protected] Web Address: www.airborn-eyewear.com Address: Steiner Strasse 31, D-78337 Oehningen Telephone: +49 7735 9191957