An experiment with waste

When it comes to jewellery, one tends to think of something expensive or valuable. But a few fashion designing students of Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology decided to change that notion. From necklaces made of paddy seeds to bangles made of eggs shells, they are experimenting with waste material and have started creating jewellery using anything that they can find around them.

Some of the raw materials used are nuts, bolts, areca nut, bamboo, metal wire, rubber, safety pins, buttons, hooks, coins, cycle tubes, cigarette waste, hair pins and even cassette tapes among other odd things.

The students involved say that they are trying to convey the ‘go green’ message and want to promote recycling and reusability. Harpreeth, for instance, made a necklace out of nuts and bolts because she sees the need for change in today’s plastic-filled world. Sonia, her batchmate, chose ‘roller coaster’ as the theme for her work and created a necklace using electrical fittings and metal wire.

Yukta tried to bring together a traditional and contemporary look to her jewellery using cassette tape, pearls, beads and areca nut plates. Speaking about her experience, Yukta says, “I made use of things that I don’t need or had lying around. In future, I plan to create more attractive jewellery out of the most unattractive things. I never want to stop applying this philosophy to my designs.”

Suchismita, another designer, adds, “I never tried to make jewellery out of waste but after this project, I am able to visualise jewellery in a different way. There were a lot of difficulties while making it but I learned a lot.”

 Mathew Ambat, a lecturer, is proud of his students for taking up this initiative. “They have done a good job with the jewellery. These days, every woman loves to wear handmade jewellery. Our students have increased the value of waste materials through this,” he says. More importantly, this exercise gave students the confidence that they could create valuable products and sell them for up to Rs 1,000 in the market. Apart from jewellery, they also made shoes, bags, furniture and garments out of the waste materials.