Giving a vibrant life to waste

Our ecology is diverse and productive. But will this diversity continue to remain unaffected? Are we making our ecology sustainable? The concept of sustainability might sound like Greek to some. But here is a City-based start-up that has taken up a mission to promote sustainability.

‘ABCD Studio’, short for ‘A Basic Concept Design’, was started in 2011 to create ideas and awareness about sustainable products. Nurturing sustainably, they produce a wide range of upcycled notebooks, newspapers, gift wrapping papers and stationery. “We started as a design consultancy. Our aim is to promote sustainable designs and create a milestone with these designs. Our design services are creative in not only their conception, but also their implementation,” says Raahul Khadaliya, founder and owner of ‘ABCD Studio’.

The firm believes in no form of waste. Nor do they believe in limited shelf life of products. They can all be recycled or upcycled and made sustainable. And one need not compromise on quality as these upcycled products can make for quirky hand bound notebooks, block printed newspapers used as gift wraps, unmatched school notebooks and many more. The studio that believes in ‘the second life’, keeps in mind the three R’s - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

They collect the discarded and leftover waste from various production units and scrap vendors and upcycle them to more sustainable products.

“There are so many things that is considered waste. But these things can be upcycled and they can become the most used products. For instance, take a soap powder cover. While printing these covers, there might be some printing error and hence they cannot be used. This doesn’t mean that they have to be thrown away. They can be moulded into new products and made useful. Taking inspiration from the interesting lifestyle, we believe in creating effective and enriching sustainable designs,” says Raahul.

They have 1000 concept based products that fall under three categories. ‘Eco dyeing’ – that use recycled materials, ‘Sustainable products’ – that provide environmental, social and economic benefits; ‘design for sustainability’ – that focuses on how a product can impact the service.

“We make books from one side printed newspapers by using the Japanese stab binding technique. The one side printed papers are folded into half and stuck together, which can be used in notebooks, diaries,” he informs.

Each product in ‘ABCD Studio’ has a story to tell and has a core aesthetic value that is different from the regular products. All their creations are eco-friendly and innovative. They are hand printed and the ink used is also water based which is eco-friendly. And these eco-friendly, sustainable products are economical as they are ranged between Rs 50 and Rs 800. “The high end products are concept based. They use varied techniques and are moulded to make the end product. So, we price the products depending on the concepts,” he adds.
The studio that has put up stalls in flea markets has been receiving great response. But the concept is still new and is welcomed by a niche audience. “We still need to build cognizance among the audience. There are many who are aware of sustainability and show their concern to the idea. But there needs to be more awareness about the idea and the techniques should become popular among a larger audience,” wraps up Raahul.