Weaving in ideas

Enthusiastic bunch

The students of Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology put up an impressive show — a blend of creativity, innovation and practicality — at the ‘Srishti Expo 16’ to celebrate 20 years of the institute.

Themed ‘Generating Alchemy’, the event saw a number of outstanding exhibits crafted by talented students, with many focussing on eco-friendly ideas, exploring alternative design systems and human centric schemes.

“The expo is showcasing not just the works of our final year students but also of the research labs and PhD students. Each of them holds immense potential for the future,” said the director of the Institute, Geetha Narayanan.

There were two halls full of displays and every student came up with an interesting design which was unique. Final year student Siddhant Beriwal prepared a project revolving around manufacturing banana fibre. “It started with the process of extraction from the banana bark. After that, we followed the traditional styles of hand-knotting and hand-spinning to develop a continuous yarn. Then it was handwoven into fabric and can be used as a substitute for linen,” he said. He highlighted that he employed 60 craftsmen for a month from a village in West Bengal and also came up with four shirts and a Nehru jacket using the fabric which can be incorporated into daily wear. Provision of livelihood was an important motive behind this.

Maithili Borkar wonderfully tapped into the idea of utilising industrial waste and excesses. “While producing cloth, the starting and end parts of the yarn are thrown away and end up in landfills. I aim to put it back in the usage cycle,” she said. Maithili bought wholesale cloth (discarded cotton, khadi and polyester) and accessories from the market here and collected old saris. Combining both, she created a yardage that can be used to make bedsheets, carpets, apparel and laundry bags.

Jayati Sood worked to reduce the use of plastic. Explaining her concept, she said, “The black plastic liners that people use to line their dustbins are not very good in quality and they only contribute to the garbage on roads after we dump our waste in it. So I came up with these newspaper liners called ‘layer pockets’ in three different sizes. One can place about 10 of them together in the dustbin and discard one a day with the waste, sealing it with the flap on top.” Shreya Vyas has created an exciting journal app for children called ‘Planteria’ which encourages them to explore nature in their backyard and neighbourhood by carrying out activities as well as creating them.

    Contributing to the pool of diligent ideas was also Vanika Khanna, another student, who worked on a proposed goal by UNESCO. She endeavours to make cities sustainable and promote road safety awareness in Bengaluru. For this, she did a study with the Bengaluru Traffic Police and has come up with illustrations built into a desk set which includes a calendar, a pocket notebook, a mug and bookmarks. “The idea is based on ‘nimbu-mirchis’, ‘drishtibomai’, feng shui coins, ‘teesrinazar’ and stickers of god, placed inside a vehicle to ward off evil. The campaign will let people know that safety doesn’t come from putting faith in superstition but from better driving etiquette,” said Vanika.

The merchandise also has statistics of fines, road accidents, pedestrian fatalities and drunk driving cases directly sourced from the police in an attempt to drive sense into people. Saumya Pankaj worked with a project in Andhra Pradesh, which has diverse ethnic value and an amazingly defined cuisine inseparable from its people. She has designed ‘inti’ (Telugu for home), a proposed chain of restaurants that will be run by over 9 million women in Andhra Pradesh, not only providing employment to them but also fulfilling people’s needs for hygienic food on national highways.

With many more fresh and exciting ideas like these, the expo offered some pathbreaking design solutions springing from a collective of imaginations. The event is on till today at Palace Grounds.