Jürgen Altmann – Sunglasses for the Roof of the World

Jürgen Altmann’s heart beats for long-distance travel, good coffee and… sunglasses! Not for any fashion purposes, but to help the people in the Himalayas and the Andes to have healthier eyes. Altmann is therefore a perfect ambassador for our eYo project – and is now launching a model of his own design. Strictly limited, of course.

eYo – Stories and creative eyewear styles

eYo is a project launched by Edel-Optics to provide a platform for everyday heroes from a wide range of fields. The eYo ambassadors are all fascinating personalities whose lives and sense of style are unique. They tell their stories from music, art, design, sport and more through eyewear that they have designed themselves, which bear the creative signature of each Ambassador from the sketch to the final product.

eYo-Ambassador Jürgen Altmann: Help on Two Wheels

Jürgen Altmann is the latest addition to the eYo family. The Munich restaurateur (he has been running the Aroma coffee bar in the legendary Glockenbachviertel for more than 20 years) took a three-month sabbatical in 2004 to cruise around the Indian highlands of Ladakh on a motorbike and distribute toys and children’s clothing for a children’s aid organisation. That first trip led to many more.

On one of these trips, Jürgen Altmann noticed that people were given sunglasses after cataract surgery – but fake models without UV protection, which were more of a health risk than protection for the freshly operated eyes. Altmann decided to change that. He started collecting used sunglasses in his café and convinced a Munich optician to check them for UV protection. In 2009, he set off for Ladakh with 300 pairs of sunglasses in his luggage – and distributed the precious cargo by motorbike to the remotest villages of the desert-like plateau.

Why are sunglasses so important in the mountains?

UV radiation increases with every metre of altitude. For the people in the Himalayas or the Andes, who live between 3,500 and 5,000 metres above sea level all their lives, this strong solar radiation means a great danger. Around 80 percent of the population have eye inflammation or more serious damage such as cataracts or eye cancer. Sunglasses could prevent or at least delay much of this.

With his aid organisation SHADES OF LOVE, Altmann has now distributed more than 460,000 pairs of sunglasses in high mountain regions, and now the project is to be extended to the Arctic region, where snow blindness is a widespread threat. Opportunities to support are available on the SHADES OF LOVE website.

eYo x Jürgen Altmann: Sunglasses with Value

The design of Jürgen Altmann’s sunglasses picks up on the UV protection theme with the side glare shield, but with their streamlined aviator shape and mirrored mono-lens, they are above all an extremely cool statement that looks good not only in the high mountain regions of this world, but especially in the city. But you have to be fast because this exclusive model is limited to 300 pieces!