she created detailed handmade boxes and magnets, and began selling them on her Instagram page. However, during the lockdown, she shifted her focus to the items she found around her house. In January 2020, Bengaluru resident Roma Revankar Rao began her small business of refurbishing furniture. If only upcycling was looked into and researched enough, I am sure the market can grow to a much larger extent,” she says. “There is a lot of scope for unused material. According to Vidya, upcycling has much-untapped potential in the city and country. Now, she even creates customised orders with bottles sourced from junkyards, beach clean-ups and donations. With a light source, Vidya turned her painted bottles into lamps, springing her business. Around the same time, she began searching for night lamps that match her artistic taste, to little success. The results were much appreciated by her companions. Soon, she sourced used alcohol bottles from friends and family to experiment with her painting. Based in Chennai, Vidya’s interest in the idea bloomed when the self-taught artist decided to paint on Amul Kool bottles at home one day. Vidya Bhat’s endeavour, Chittaara, repurposes bottles to create gorgeous, unique lamps. Gone are the days when people bought standardised furniture for their homes it’s the age of personalisation. Contact: lilyndthewonderwomen on Instagram lilysengupta. However, the business is looking forward to new endeavours, planning a sustainability awareness programme online soon. The pandemic has brought hurdles in the process, reducing the women employed part-time to five. Hence, customers can ask for customised designs,” adds Lily. “Our designs are unique since the material being used is never the same. The katran is sourced from local tailors in Kannagi Nagar, either collected or bought to support them. Lily and the Wonder Women create small and cute upcycled toys made from katran or waste textile scraps. Ten women put their trust in me and that’s how I founded Lily & the Wonder Women in 2019,” she says. I wished to do something sustainable for them. “While the projects were impactful, they were also temporary and would only fetch the women a stipend for five-six months. Co-founder of the Trust, Lily Sengupta, wanted to do more. Using polythene bags, 360 women created coasters, jewellery and waste bins till the ban of plastic carry bags in 2017. In 2015, InkLink Charitable Trust began working with the women of Kannagi Nagar on upcycling projects through which they could be taught marketable skills. Contact: on Instagram /shop Studio: No.7, Sai Nagar, Karpagam Avenue, RA Puram, Chennai This results in one-of-a-kind garments.” The brand is looking to make these saris into a perennial collection. There are random curves and sharp turns in tune with the rhythm of the music. She adds, “We play the song and I cut the fabric intuitively, without a pattern. The designer has an unusual work style where she cuts the fabric while listening to a song or music piece she associates with it. And by procuring pre-loved saris, we eliminated the cost of raw materials, making them affordable,” she says. With these, we started crafting avant-garde pieces. “We sent out calls to our communities and families to send us saris that they are not using, that are redundant to them. The founder of an eponymous city-based sustainable fashion brand was inspired to create an upcycled collection of saris called ‘Made from Nothing’ when the pandemic curbed household expenditure.
However, there is little truth to this, according to Sanah Sharma. Sustainable fashion is seen as inaccessible in society, given its reputation as an expensive alternative.