Surat-based Rashi Agarwal launched Roohani Rang, a hand-crafted stationery enterprise. It recycles cotton waste to create sustainable merchandise like journals, planners, sketchbooks, calendars, and so on — all designed by artisans expert in conventional Indian artwork varieties.
Rashi Agarwal’s last yr of school was extremely enriching. She launched into a nationwide journey to discover conventional artwork and craft varieties, all for her thesis. From Delhi to Jaipur, Kutch to Ahmedabad, and Puducherry to Pune, she sought out artisans, absorbing their information and methods.
Regardless of the range of artwork varieties she encountered, there was a unifying thread amongst all of them — the dwindling demand for handcrafted work as society gravitated towards machine-printed artwork.
How may this 25-year-old discover a means to offer a livelihood to those artisans? This query gnawed on the Surat resident even after she returned dwelling.
It was round this time that she started portray the quilt pages of diaries, which had been extremely appreciated by her family and friends. Since a lot of the artisans she visited labored within the paper business, she puzzled if she may flip her love for drawing and portray right into a enterprise that would supply employment to individuals who labored by hand.
She needed to revolutionise the house by making these age-old practices of handmade merchandise interesting to in the present day’s shoppers and bringing them again into pattern. With this thought in thoughts, Rashi began ‘Roohani Rang’ — a hand-crafted stationery enterprise that sells sustainable merchandise.
What makes the enterprise stand aside is that the merchandise — be it diaries, planners, calendars, and extra — are made out of cotton waste. Up to now, Rashi has offered over 15,000 planners and employed over 50 artisans, whereas recycling 9,732 kg of cotton.
No bushes had been harmed in making this paper
Throughout her last yr of bachelor’s on the Raman Bhakta Faculty of Structure in Surat, Rashi determined to enterprise into enterprise. The catch — it was 2020, the second wave of COVID-19 was wreaking havoc throughout the nation, and the then pupil had simply Rs 5,000 to start out her enterprise.
She nonetheless determined to tackle the problem head-on, as she remembered the phrases of the craftsmen and ladies she met. “Most of them had no work resulting from COVID-19 and had been struggling to make ends meet. They had been desperately in want of labor. I used to be aware of their actuality as I spent a number of days with them. I knew that I had to assist them,” Rashi tells The Higher India.
The architect determined to start out in Jaipur and revisited the artisans, explaining her concept to them. After spending a number of days with them, she obtained them on board together with her imaginative and prescient. Together with her preliminary funding, she produced 50 diaries.
Given the large reception, she reinvested the cash to broaden her product vary to incorporate extra stationery objects — similar to planners, calendars, notebooks, journals, sketchbooks, and extra. Her aim was to deliver change within the artisanal house by introducing good design interventions and fostering synergy between designers, artisans, and the tip shopper.
Rashi selected to make use of paper-making methods which were practised in India for hundreds of years, similar to handmade paper making, hand stitching of paper, table-top display printing, and hand block printing. Each product of Roohani Rang is meticulously handmade, devoid of any chemical compounds or dyes, in line with the founder.
“My concept is to make use of these outdated methods and make them relatable in in the present day’s world. As a designer, I need to protect these crafts by producing them in a means that’s palatable,” she provides.
Roohani Rang recycles cotton waste to make their stationery. They use miniature portray, Gond artwork, Madhubani artwork, and Tanjore portray of their merchandise.
Recycling cotton waste into bespoke stationery
The manufacturing at Roohani Rang is a long-drawn course of and begins with procuring pre-consumer textile waste from factories. Pre-consumer waste refers to any extra materials that arises in the course of the manufacturing of yarn, materials and textiles.
“This waste is often despatched to the landfills and may’t be used to make something because it’s in small items. We determined to make use of this to make our paper, which is completed in lots of clusters throughout India, like Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Puducherry. The added benefit of utilizing cotton waste is that it’s already white and doesn’t want any chemical compounds to scrub it up,” provides Rashi.
This cotton waste is then shredded into smaller items and transformed into paper.
The shredded cotton waste is transformed from pulp to paper by the artisans in a pool of water. This water can also be reused, mentions Shaunak Desai, architect and companion at Roohani Rang.
The paper is then dried, printed, sure and packed. Each step of the method is handmade, states Shaunak.
Roohani Rang has a warehouse in Surat the place they make the prototypes of their merchandise, publish which they’re produced in massive portions in Jaipur, Puducherry or Ahmedabad. All their merchandise are hand printed and hand sure.
“The paper and printing are finished in a single cluster, whereas the binding and packaging are finished in Surat. Relying on the type of product and paper required, we select the cluster the place it might be made. For instance, if display printing is required, we get it finished in Jaipur,” explains Rashi.
Shaunak provides {that a} common piece of paper requires 10 litres of water to be made, together with the truth that a tree is reduce. “In comparison with mill-made paper, handmade paper requires 20 occasions much less water. We recycle the identical water to make our paper as no chemical compounds are used. We’ve got revamped 15,000 merchandise till now, utilizing over 1,500 reams of recycled paper. Via this, we’ve saved 100 huge forest bushes from being reduce,” explains the architect.
Their merchandise comply with a 21-day cycle, as they’re made in numerous services and go by means of nearly 40 palms in your entire course of.
Via this, they supply employment to over 50 artisans and have 15 workers. Additionally they promote psychological well being and share methods to be aware by means of their posts on Instagram. In 4 years, they’ve offered over 15,000 merchandise and have garnered a following of over 40,000 on Instagram.
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Rashi desires to broaden to ceramics and garments by 2025. “Why create extra waste once we can recycle the prevailing waste? My mission is to offer a livelihood to artisans who’re nearly on the verge of extinction, and likewise to maintain their lovely artwork varieties alive,” says Rashi.
Edited by Pranita Bhat
