Enterprising designer Tom Kabbash has gone green designing, manufacturing, and retailing plant-based eyeglass frames locally made using castor beans.

Kabbash’s Saunt Eyewear manufacturing company has been offering his ultralight and progressive new 100% plant-based frames, selling them online and at La Jolla’s Open Aire Farmers Market on Sundays.

“Our unique frames have an organic, textured surface that has been described as smooth, neither rough nor abrasive in the least, not glassy or plasticity; a nice texture, almost sensuous,” states Saunt in its company brochure. “We spend countless hours refining and sculpting the surfaces of our frames to strike the perfect balance of visual and physical weight and feel.”

Kabbash’s plant-based frames are green in more ways than one.

“In addition to our commitment to sustainable development and locally made products, we also strive to minimize our consumption and waste, and avoid single-use disposable plastics in all our manufacturing processes,” says Saunt’s brochure that adds, “We also value small-batch production to minimize waste. The fact that we manufacture our products locally allows us to avoid bulk shipping from overseas factories.”

Having worked in the eyeglass industry for more than 25 years, Kabbash noted that, about 3 ½ years ago, he was holding a 3D printed part in his hand when the proverbial “light bulb” flashed for him. “I had a moment, like a vision … I just imagined glasses being made in this way,” he said adding, “Ultimately, I started developing the product.”

Designed and manufactured in San Diego, Saunt eyeglass frames weigh less than an ounce and are extremely durable retaining their shape. Frames are designed to fit comfortably giving a gentle hug, and staying put no matter what.

Saunt’s unique manufacturing process involves using ultraviolet light and 3D files to create frame parts using powder bed multi-jet fusion technology. This allows the manufacture of eyewear locally in San Diego, which is a rare achievement in the eyewear industry, wherein eyeglass frames have until now primarily been made overseas.

“First and foremost, I wanted to make them domestically,” said Kabbash of his green eye frames noting, in attempting to do so, that he found just the right plant material to use in manufacturing green frames. “I found a material that was available, made from castor bean oil, that was 100% plant-based as well as being flexible and strong,” he said. “I was looking to make something from a natural-fiber material versus a petroleum-based material.”

Even the packaging of Saunt eyeglass frames is sustainable being entirely compostable. Best yet, Kabbash noted frames being manufactured locally “keeps 80% of our dollars here in the United States.”

Describing himself and Saunt as environmental minimalists, Kabbash said: “We try to minimize our impact on the environment in every aspect of our business, and those of our manufacturing partners. We do our best to help control waste using no plastics in the packaging. We also talk about trying to be as transparent as possible with what we make, how we make it, and where we make it.”

Going green manufacturing eyeglass frames has been a real treat for Kabbash. “I’ve been in the eyeglass industry close to 30 years, and this is the most fun I’ve ever had,” he concluded.

For more information, visit saunteyewear.com.