Cory

Cory, Havana

As a child I really wanted glasses. I tried reading in the dark, because my mom said it was bad for my eyes. Clearly, I was not a very smart kid.

So for fun I would try on my dad's glasses. And sometimes my Farmor's glasses. This was back in the eighties and they sported these big, kinda square frames. They hurt my eyes so I couldn't keep them on for very long, but I loved wearing them. They made me feel smart and grown up.

Cory, Black

The "Cory" frames draw their name from the character of Corrado Soprano. He sports some amazing retro-fabulous-grandpa-chic spectacles. I can totally dig it :)

Cory, Forest

Whilst I do love those grandpa frames I find that they can sometimes be a little sad looking. So I worked on cheering them up to make them slightly more current.

Cory, Berry

Back in 2011 while I was drawing them I really visualized them as unisex. No one believed it. Everyone said they were only for the ladies. When we got the samples a few months ago I was finally proven right. Lars loves them and wears them all the time. I was right. And most importantly Lars was proven wrong :) They look so great on both men and women. They are quite big frames so they work best on people with larger faces.

Lars wearing Cory in Black

The "Cory" is available in four colors:
- Black
- Havana
- Forest
- Berry

Lots of love, K

Kajo Keji

We are finally here! And it is amazing! We landed in Kajo Keji yesterday and were greeted at the airstrip by a crowd singing and dancing and playing instruments. Their bishop was on our plane and was coming back to the area after having been away for three weeks. So even though we weren't the reason they were singing it was still a wonderful welcome :)

A warm welcome :)

We are staying as guests at the MHI compound in the town of Wudu. The area looks like a postcard. Little huts with straw roofs, goats walking around in the fields and children saying "How are you?". This is the rainy season so everything is very green.

Grace took us to the market

The Eyejusters get here tomorrow so today has been a pretty relaxed day. We went into town with Grace and Kristen to exchange some money and visited the Saint Comboni mission. They have set up a sewing shop for local women with looms and sewing machines. They make some really pretty and colorful handbags under the label Lady Lomin (link here). I bought two, but I want to go back and get more.

Beautiful colors

I am trying to vlog while we are here. I have no clue as to how I will edit the footage. I also do not know if I will be able to upload with the internet connection we have here. We will find out... ;)

In other news, I left my DSLR on the plane, so the whole lens mess-up won't matter much :( I got upset for a second and then tried to see the silver lining: I still have my Canon G11, I have never quite gotten around to figuring out how to make it work for me and now I will have to grow to love it. Thankfully the people at MAF found it and are holding it for me until we get back to Kampala.

Lots of love, K

Holly

Holly, Black

These frames have a story, a long one, so brace yourself. Or don't bother reading and just enjoy the pretty pictures :)

I love makeup. I don't wear makeup every day, because I am lazy and I often work from home. But I never feel really fabulous without it. I know people who do. I envy them. I have tried to become one of them, thinking that confidence is all the makeup one really needs. Mirrors, shop windows and pictures have cruelly made me realize that it is just not possible for me.

Now, I am aware that I sound like I am being tough on myself to fish for compliments - and I do like me some compliments - but I have a point. Makeup makes me feel amazing. As some of you may know, I am the proud mommy of the world's greatest dog Sarah. I also live in a city, where there are people in the streets. I therefore have to present my face to the world pretty much every day. With or without makeup.

Sunglasses save the day :) The right ones make me feel pretty darn good about myself, actually they make me feel like a movie star.

The movie star look :)

Holly, Havana

The "Holly" frame is inspired by makeup and movie stars. By winged eyeliner and the beautiful Holly Golightly/Audrey Hepburn having breakfast while looking through the Tiffany's window (even though they don't look at all like the frames she wears in that scene). And then I mixed in a little hint of old Cadillac fins.

Sweet ride :)

I also did not own a pair of cat-eye sunglasses, and I felt that I was due for a pair. So here they are, the sunglasses that make me feel like a movie star.

Holly, Berry

The "Holly" is available in
- Black
- Havana
- Berry: a multilayered deep red

Lots of love, K

Holly, Black

On our way to South Sudan

Sorry about the complete radio silence these past few days. Lars and I have both been really busy trying to get all our stuff ready for the trip as well as having had quite hectic personal lives. We have not had many seconds to sit down since the weekend. We finished packing last night just in time to get one and a half hours of sleep. And I have already noticed one packing mistake, arg. I brought the wrong lens for my SLR, now I have my 50mm that I like for portraits instead of my favorite 35mm. I'll make it work :)

Also, this morning Lars got the departure time mixed up :) He though it was at 06.50 when it actually was at 06.30. We just made our flight. Pfiou!

Now we are sitting in the lounge at Amsterdam Airport while we wait to board tour flight to Uganda. We'll stay the night in Uganda and fly over to South Sudan tomorrow. We are really excited but also quite nervous.

I must say that I am not a big fan of flying. I get a bit scared and I have trouble getting comfortable. But now I am too tired to be very fussy. Fingers crossed this flight is a good one :)

Lots of love, K

Buddy

Buddy, Midnight

I wanted to create frames that would make a strong style statement. "Updated vintage" was what I was aiming for. I was thinking of the people who made eyewear look really cool. People you might not even recognize if they took off their glasses. I thought of how some strong frames can dress up a face for the stage.


Buddy Holly came to mind. His thick, vintage - well back then I guess they were new - frames. 

Looking awesome

I did not look at a single picture of Buddy Holly until the first drawings were nearly done, and when I finally did I realized that my frames really didn't look that similar to his... 

By then the name "Buddy" felt so right for the frames that I could not bring myself to change it. Also, Lars and I have been scuba diving a few times and we love it. The "Buddy" name also refers to the Buddy system in scuba diving where two divers pair up and watch out for each other. I think that is really nice, and it is kind of what the Karmoie concept is all about.

I still kept the style in line with my original drawings, although they have been through many rounds of adjustments to get a comfortable fit.

Buddy, Havana

In the beginning, when they were still on the drawing board, I considered these frames to be very masculine, because of the sharp, thick brow. In the end I am very pleased that they turned out to be quite unisex. I wear the Midnight color often, and whilst they do add some edge to an outfit, I don't feel that they make me look any less feminine. That's not to say that they are any less sharp on a man. My cousin Carl looks so good in them!

My cousin Carl wearing Buddy Black and looking like a rock star

Buddy, Moss

I had wanted a pair of navy sunglasses for a while, but never found the right pair. So I couldn't create my own collection of frames without indulging myself ;)

Me :) Wearing Buddy Midnight

Buddy Midnight

"Buddy" is available in four colors:
- Black
- Havana
- Midnight

- Moss

Lots of love, K

Buddy, Black

Smart

Smart, Havana

Glasses make people look smart. Everyone knows that :)

I have perfect vision. I have contemplated wearing decorative frames with no lenses just for the smart look. I don't think I could pull it off with a straight face ;P To me putting on glasses to read or work is kind of like putting one's thinking cap on.

My sister Maria - one of the smartest people I know - wearing Smart Crystal

The "Smart" frames are actually named after Gyro Gearloose aka Petter Smart in Norwegian. Because when I think of smart people (or comic book characters), I think of him. I am very sophisticated like that :) And Gyro has little round shaped glasses resting on his beak.

Smart, Crystal

And so I figured I would make some round glasses. Also, round is clearly the best shape, it is the shape of the planet, bubbles, our eyeballs, music - well of records anyway - and hugs. And some of the coolest frames of all time are round, from John Lennon to Harry Potter. Round frames are the bees knees :)

Bryan Ferry at Norwegian Wood, wearing Smart Horn

I worked on these for a really long time. I wanted to keep the round shape round, but soften it so that it would fit effortlessly and not have the roundness overpower the features of the face. Getting both sizes to have the same look was trickier than I expected. Just scaling up all the measurements didn't work.

Smart, Horn

"Smart" is available in two sizes, Small and Large and four colors:
- Havana
- Horn
- Beach
- Crystal

Smart, Beach

Africa

Images curtesy of MHI , Wikipedia and Google Maps

In exactly one week we will be leaving for Africa. We are donating glasses to a project in South Sudan. We are partnering with Mobile Heath International (link here) and they have graciously invited us to stay with them as their guests in Kajo Keji in the state of Central Equatoria .

I have been to Africa once before. We went to Tanzania with Lars' parents for Christmas in 2005. It was an amazing experience and, I will admit, a very pampered trip. I expect this one will be a little different :)

L&K in the Serengeti, 2005

We are both so excited and very happy to get the chance to immerse ourselves in the donation aspect of Karmoie! 


For my part I must admit to being a bit nervous. I have not practiced medicine these past few years and I feel more than a bit rusty. I have pulled out my books and plan to take some time to sit down and brush up before we leave. I am not going there to work as a physician, but would nevertheless like to be as useful as I can. Our contact person at MHI kindly sent me a little overview of the medical conditions they are most commonly faced with. If any of our doctor friends (any ophthalmologists out there?) have some recommendations regarding textbooks I should look into, please leave a comment below. I need all the help I can get :)

We have topped up on our vaccines and started getting our gear ready, but as Lars and I haven't really been camping or backpacking a lot, I suspect we still have some shopping to do. Any advice?

Lots of love, K

One

One, Black

"One" was the first frame I designed. Hence the name :)

I started drawing in October of 2010. At the time we had not told anyone about what we were doing (well, our office is on the same floor as my dad's office and we don't have a door, so he kinda figured we were up to something eyewear-related, but we had not officially told him). Everything was new, unfamiliar and intimidating.


Looking back I think we were quite brave, because we knew absolutely nothing about the eyewear industry. Perhaps we wouldn't have gotten into this if we did... We are still riding on a leap of faith so I guess we are just as crazy today.


The situation we were in, deciding to stop and start over, and building our own business from scratch must have manifested itself in what I was feeling creatively (blah! this sounds so self indulgent... and I suppose it was).  


I remember wanting to create a very basic, no-fuss frame. To me "One" is a sort of blank canvas, a new beginning. It holds a very special place in my heart :)

One, Beach

The first drawings probably don't look very much like the final product in terms of dimensions and angles but I would like to think that the feeling is the same.

One, Forest

As you can see there are very few bells and whistles on this frame. There's our logo on the inside and the two circles on the outside of the left temple and the wood-like finish on both temples. Keeping it clean.

One, Havana

"One" is a unisex frame, available in two sizes, Small and Large. 


"One Large" is available in four colors:

- Black

- Havana: a rich brown tortoise shell effect

- Beach: a light, high-contrast tortoise shell

- Forest: a soft multilayered brown

One, Acorn

"One Small" is available in four colors:

- Black

- Acorn: a rich brown tortoise shell effect, similar to Havana, but a little more reddish in color and the pattern is a bit more dense

- Beach: a light, high-contrast tortoise shell

- Forest: a soft multilayered brown


Well, there you have it. That's the story behind the first frames we created. I will probably be making a few posts like this one. One for every style.


Lots of love, K

Welcome to our blog!

Here we go! 


Our website is nearly ready and stock is coming in. It is time to unveil what we have been working on these past two years.


We have started this blog to have a place to connect with everyone who would like to know about what we are up to here at Karmoie.


We'll be posting updates from the donation projects we participate in, pictures of our sunglasses, of us working and whatever we feel like sharing with all of you. We haven't really made any fixed plans for what we will be posting about, but we do know that we want to share this journey with you.


Let's start off with a picture of the Karmoie family. Allow us to introduce our babies: Holly, Smart, Cory, One, Club and Buddy.

Photo by Cato Aurtun

We will be posting more pictures of the different styles in the coming days, so stay tuned!

Lots of love, K