The Journey starts in 2017 with our CEO and Founder Adrien Jathe, who was just 16. He was sitting in the car with his father driving down a highway in the late afternoon. Suddenly the sun was right in front of them and neither of them could see a thing – they were virtually blind. Obviously they both reached for their sunglasses, but even that did not help. Imagine this scenario for a second. While the sunglasses darken your view, they darken evenly and you would only see a dimmer version of a bright light and additionally all displays and street signs would be impossible to see now. This got Adrien thinking that there had to be a better solution. And so the Flashade was born – sunglasses that could darken only the light source. 

Adrien spent the next months developing the idea and first introduced it to the world at the most renowned science competition in Germany, Jugend forscht, in May of 2018. He received first place at the regional and state level and the fourth nationwide. He also received the award for the most creative project. As a result of his fantastic achievements at Jugend forscht, he was invited to present his idea to the Hessian State Chancellery in Brussels only a month later and in September he was welcomed at the federal chancellery of Germany. 

Later that year, he went all the way to Chong Qing in China to take part in the China Adolescents Science and Technology Contest. Even with 500 other contestants, he was able to take the gold medal home. Simultaneously he took part in the International Trade Fair in Nuremberg, Germany, again securing the gold medal. In March 2019, Adrien partook in the Moscow International Salon of Inventions and Innovative Technologies, collecting an Excellence Gold Award. He also took first place in Material Sciences at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona. In addition, he received a SIYSS special award, allowing him to present his idea to a large audience in Stockholm, as well as later attending the Nobel Prize Ceremony.