Water Buffalo Horn Eyewear -- Eco-Friendly But Oooof, Kind Of Ugly...

This odd object is actually a water buffalo horn, and while I'm the kind of person who prefers that appendages like this remain on the original owner's head, Swisshorn Eyewear (aka Aekae) is making a business out of transforming this raw resource into eyeglass frames for human heads.

Everybody's got their sense of style, so I'm sure that Aekae will find a market for their collection of ... well ... old man-looking sunglass and correctional frames called SIRE.

Hey, somebody should tell it like it is.

Constructed out of seven very thin layers of horn running in alternate directions to ensure strength and durability, there is apparently very little waste in the manufacturing process (which is at least a little something to crow about).

Once Aekae's craftsmen mill the horns, the only waste that remains ("horn splinters") is used as a natural plant fertilizer. It's just a crying shame that their line is so fugly...or am I the only one who thinks that?

In spite of my personal feeling about the level of attractiveness of their frames ( 1.5...2 on a good day), I really do think that sustainable frames are a far better choice than the plastic that has long dominated the eyewear marketplace.

However, couldn't they have thought of a material that doesn't kill animals? How about bamboo frames -- they'd probably look really cool...or granite, or compressed wood shavings, or petrified leaves -- anything would be better than dead cow relatives (and I'm not even a vegetarian!).

Does anyone out there in Wala world know of any eco-friendly eyewear companies that create frames out of eco-friendly NON animal materials?