One man’s trash is another’s treasure. The minds behind A Gentle Light and The Second Life, both based out of Bengaluru, share how their passion to reduce, reuse and recycle has become their work story:
The Second Life
Sometimes opportunity comes knocking when you are looking for a chance to make a change. Raahul Khadaliya, founder of The Second Life says this initiative started as an exercise for building an experimental brand in 2012. “At the time ‘sustainability’ was yet to become a strategy, a lifestyle choice. I wasn’t getting any flexibility from clients in this aspect, so I started my own brand,” says the consultant designer.
It was at a craft cluster in Hubli that Raahul saw block printers using newspapers as border markers when partial prints were required. Once the fabric was printed, the newspapers were discarded, but they still retained the dye and block print design. “We retained the same NGO to continue printing on newspapers and we started to upcycle them as gift wraps, paper bags and other products.”
“I had also heard how traditional printers in Rajasthan, Kutch and Gujarat, forced out of work, were performing the last rites for their woodcut printing blocks. Some blocks were around 400-years-old, passed down for generations, but for the artisans selling those blocks was unthinkable. Our idea of working with waste and creating opportunities for the community took off from there and that is how the philosophy of The Second Life took shape.”
According to Raahul, the NGO that creates their paper-based products employs the differently-abled and it uses water-based pigments and organic material. “There are a lot of variations when you talk about upcycling and recycling. Upcycling, in the truest sense of the word, is the use of the material as it is without destroying its original form. We did exactly this with newspapers; they are highly versatile and make for great packaging and insulation material.“
In a couple of years, Raahul and his team began exploring and experimenting with material that was affordable and realised tyre tubing could be repurposed as a substitute for leather. “Since tyres are black, we use recycled PVC felt to give the colour of our products. Our aim is to create products that are utility and functionality oriented so they will not get discarded and makes the impact it was supposed to create.”
Today, The Second Life specialises in fashion accessories, stationery and thoughtful gifting ideas. On The Second Life site, each product comes with a note to help visitors understand the concept of upcycling. For more details log on to www.thesecondlife.co/
A Gentle Light
“If you keep everything constant and just change the lighting in the room, it can dramatically change how a room looks and feels,” says Anoo Kulkarni. The self-taught woodworker who fashions lamps out of sawmill rejects, favours a minimalist finish to her handiwork.
“Many of the pieces I pick up at the sawmill have visible defects which are more cosmetic than structural. I feel a rough edge, chip or dent have a lot of character. “
Anoo uses joinery (a method that avoids the use of nails or screws) to build her pieces and though irregularities in the wood pose a challenge, she would not have it any other way. “When using joinery, both pieces have to fit as snugly as a plug in a socket and it is difficult to mark gnarly pieces accurately to saw or cut them, but that is what makes them unique.”
Though Anoo began experimenting with woodworking in 2017, she says her love for carpentry and lamps began as a child. “I was gifted a tool kit when I was about seven or eight years old. Soon, I was unscrewing latches and hinges around the house,” she laughs, adding that she also figured out the intricacies of wiring around that time.
Anoo says she is very particular about what kind of fabric is used for each lampshade. “Each shade is customised to the lamp’s specifics and I try to buy as much as possible directly from artisans, weavers and state emporiums, focusing on traditional prints and weaves.”
Anoo says she was always aware of the play of light and nuances of shade. “Fireplaces brought light to the cottages in the fairy tales of my childhood and the warm glow exuded more than a cosy feel — it brought a sense of comfort and security too. Today, it is important to me that my lamps bring a sense of reassurance and relaxation. This is why I’m finicky about the materials I use for the shades as the light has to diffuse in a certain way.”
For someone who has been upcycling ever since she was a child, the concept of waste seems alien to Anoo. She whittles miniatures from what is leftover after a lamp is fashioned and uses the leftover delicate wood shavings for decor.
For more details log on to www.agentlelight.com
