Spreading the upcycling mantra

Jewellery from pistachio shells, lampshades from cardboard boxes, pen-stands from shampoo containers — upcycling household items in this manner started as a hobby for city-based homemaker Jayanti Premkumar. Soon enough though, she started to get noticed beyond her circle of friends and family and after judging a few competitions at schools, decided to take her art and do something more with it.

“I have always liked decorating my house. And all these things that people usually throw away can be used to make something that’s not only functional but also beautiful,” says Jayanti. “I take time out — at least twice a week — to sit down and make interesting pieces. I don’t really have any set number of things I want to create; just that each time I want to try something new,” she smiles and says, lounging with a cup of coffee at home.

It’s not just the often-used materials that Jayanti uses. Getting in with the trend of bottle art, she makes artful designs on waste bottles using old clothes. “I also design photo frames and lamps. Sometimes, around festivities, I make the décor out of waste material, or gift people upcycled things that I have made,” she adds.

What’s most interesting about Jayanti’s products are that unlike many of her contemporaries in the field of upcycled products, she doesn’t want to sell her products. The idea is to spread awareness about waste and recycling. “I want people to realise that they don’t have to always buy expensive decorative pieces for their homes. With a bit of DIY and creativity, they can turn even things that seem like junk into décor. To spread this message, I have already gone to several schools to conduct workshops. I also go to rehabilitated slums and other localities where there are economically backward people. They are quite eager to learn, since it gives them an alternate mode of income,” she explains.

Another project that Jayanti has taken up is to go and visit jails across the city and teach women who are up for trial about upcycling. The idea first came to her when she was approached by the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Mumbai, and then Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). “I met some of the professors at TISS and they seemed quite encouraging. They are the ones who got me in touch with the concerned authorities at the jails,” she recalls.

Having taken several sessions in jails in and around Mumbai, Jayanti feels a certain amount of sympathy towards her students, most of them incarcerated. “They are not necessarily all criminals, but women who are stuck in the system because their trials are still underway. Some may be proved innocent but they will forever carry the stigma of having been in jail. So, I feel that teaching them how to create these products may also help them in the future, when they may be shunned from jobs. At least during festive seasons, they will be able to earn some money,” she says, hopefully.

Despite her best efforts, however, Jayanti sighs that she hasn’t been able to convert her family and friends, yet. “They usually love what I make, but most of them don’t have the kind of time and patience it takes to make something from waste products,” she laughs, adding, “I can only hope that in time, everyone will realise how rewarding it is to create art from waste, and also how much it would help our environment!”