Duskies: a passion for wood

Driven by the desire to create a sustainable business, Andrew “Macca” McKenzie, co-creator and owner of Duskies Eco Eyewear, started up his own handcrafted wooden eyewear business in Hawkes Bay. Susanne Bradley caught up with him to find out more.

How did Duskies come about?

After many years of timber-house building in New Zealand, including a major renovation of my family’s art deco home in Havelock North, I decided to head over to the UK for a two-year working holiday as many kiwis do.

After six months in London, I left the rat race behind and moved to Aberdeen to do some carpentry work. The initial two years extended into an amazing seven years in Scotland and Ireland working in construction. I also travelled extensively throughout Western and Eastern Europe, which is where I first came across the wooden frame concept. After returning to New Zealand, I decided I wanted a drastic change in career. This is when Duskies started to evolve.

Why wooden frames?

Back in the UK, I attended many music festivals and couldn’t help noticing all the waste left behind by festival goers. Copious amounts of bottles, cups and plastic food utensils along with paddocks full of tents and clothing, all left behind. At one event, there was a company handing out complimentary bright green, plastic sunglasses at the gates and of course, the fluorescent green memorabilia were over-powering the pile of trash left behind.

It was at that very moment I thought there must be an alternative; an environmentally-friendly material sunglasses can be made from. I was very proud of my festival Trilby-style hat made from bamboo fibre and being a carpenter, frames produced from wood seemed an obvious choice.

Following my green light moment and after some research, I found the concept of wooden sunglasses was out there. But only a handful of small companies in Europe and USA were producing wooden eyewear, and no companies in New Zealand, so I made it my mission to create something uniquely awesome from wood, from here.

What’s Duskies’ difference?

Duskies wooden frames are very light and comfortable to wear. Our customers and stockists are often surprised at how light they are when they first try them on. The frames are robust and hardy and our German spring-loaded hinges offer extra comfort.

How important is the ‘eco’ part of the business?

So many people, especially the younger generations, are becoming more aware of using sustainable materials and what impact their (buying) decisions have on our environment. I saw a niche in the market for a sustainable fashion accessory and I’m very proud of the eco aspect of Duskies. We have some extremely loyal supporters in this domain, but it’s the fashion-forward, unique designs we are creating that seem to be really pushing Duskies ahead as the pioneers of wooden eyewear in New Zealand.

Who else is involved with Duskies?

We are a small boutique company operating from the hills of Havelock North in Hawkes Bay.

It’s myself and my partner Jessica (Whyte) driving this ship. We have a small team in China helping us with production and we work very closely with them. I am very hands on in the production process and the face-to-face sales of the Duskies’ brand. Jessica is amazing support and does a lot of the behind the scenes work whilst keeping me in check.

What’s been the hardest thing about the business?

We have been producing and distributing wooden frames for just over three years now and have some amazing support throughout the country. Manufacturing is the biggest challenge as it’s very labour intensive with a huge amount of hand-sanding to get that top-quality finish Duskies’ requires. Keeping up with new designs and implementing ideas to make the frames stronger and more durable is also crucial with wooden eyewear. There was a lot of trial and error with processes and materials at the start which, at times, was very frustrating but we now have the knack for it and produce what we consider to be a beautiful, fashionable range of unique wooden eyewear.

Manufacturing in China also has its challenges. There is a lot to learn when it comes to Chinese culture and work ethics. We now have a great team in place and have become very close with the family-owned wood workshop we work with. On our last trip, we actually took my parents and Jess’s mother with us, and meeting our China team was a total highlight for them. The two families, spending time together has helped confirm our loyal relationship with our Chinese connections as we later found out it was a massive sign of respect for us to introduce our ‘Xinxilan’ (New Zealand family) to them.

Any news you'd like to share?

We’ve just launched a collaboration with Central Otago winery Mt Difficulty, which I am super excited about. We have recycled Mt Difficulty’s pinot noir soaked wine barrels into oak wood sunglasses. It’s been a long process but well worth the wait as the barrels initially came from Europe, then held their award-winning vintage for three years. The production process has taken a further eight months but, this summer, Mt Difficulty will be selling these limited-edition wine barrel sunglasses through their cellar door.