These are some of our items at SOBO
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Venturing into South Bombay via SOBO
After achieving great responses from our 3 exhibitions in Mumbai, we realised that Mumbai-kars are very much the eco-conscious lot with a great eye for design. We started our first supply in Mumbai at SOBO in the midst of beautiful, breathtaking art deco buildings, neo-gothic classic structures and monuments, rich heritage fused with trendy, chic styles, posh and powerful. SOBO houses fashion clothing, lifestyle products and fashion accessories by young designers. Its chic layout and blue walls certainly sets the mood for shopping!
These are some of our items at SOBO
These are some of our items at SOBO
Monday, December 13, 2010
Society Interiors feature
Shortly after our participation at the Society Exhibition, Society Interiors magazine decided to feature us in their December issue! A warm introduction by the editor- Natasha, "With major global warming concerns, going eco-friendly is the mantra of today’s day and age. However, in our country eco-friendly products are limited to the use of fresh materials such as wood, cane, jute to name a few. Recycling too is restricted to just a few materials. One company that is very passionate about recycling products and giving them facelift is Workshop Q. Headed by sisters Radhika & Madhvi Khaitan, this Jaipur based company gives scrap a quirky makeover."
Society Interiors magazine, December 2010 issue
Society Interiors magazine, December 2010 issue
Monday, December 6, 2010
The Sip of Life feature!
A feature on an online platform for exchanging opinions, features and articles- The Sip of Life. We felt quite proud for making it to the The Sip of Life column with our recycling concept.
Thanks for this feature Amit!
Click here to read the interview.
Thanks for this feature Amit!
Click here to read the interview.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Customised mirror
So we were contacted by someone who wanted to get a customised mirror made for her bathroom using bangles. The client was very specific on using earthy colors and wanted a pretty design. This is what we came up with.
The mirror up in the bathroom.
Our client absolutely loved it!
The mirror up in the bathroom.
Our client absolutely loved it!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Entering the Bangalore market
We just stepped into The Orange Bicycle in Bangalore situated in Bangalore's chic and trendy Indiranagar. The Orange Bicycle is a space bringing together a story – a story of the beautiful, the desirable, the fun, the boho, and the chic, the sophisticated and at the same time quirky under one roof. They offer an eclectic mix of products including garments, jewelry, accessories, bags, shoes, art, pottery, home linen, home décor items and much more. The list is endless with a great find to be discovered at every step. They stock our vibrant colorpencil range of trays, placemats & photo frames along with a few assorted items.
P.S. notice the tags attached to each products. We have a short storyline of each product on how it is environmentally friendly to our planet :)
P.S. notice the tags attached to each products. We have a short storyline of each product on how it is environmentally friendly to our planet :)
Monday, November 15, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Challenges facing a 'green' business like us
After participating in a few exhibitions and the responses we got from the stores, these are some of the challenges we were confronted with:
• High price concern – Our target market is middle income households of housewives and the youth. People have had this false impression of recycled eco friendly products being low priced ever since the inception of the ‘green’ concept. It was not that easy to explain to the consumers that even though the raw material is bought at a low value, the time spent in processing it and making it usable adds a chunk to the labour cost. Employing all handmade processes also contributes to the high price factor.
• Negative notion of products being made from scrap – A lot of people were hesitant to buy products as they termed it as “stuff made from kachra”. That was rather a very unexpected notion we faced.
• Procuring & upcycling the right kind of scrap – Procuring waste & making it usable by employing eco-friendly methods as opposed to treating it with chemicals was challenging too. For instance, a few friends suggested reusing old VHS tapes (the black tape in video cassettes). It sounded like a good idea as these tapes are strong and flexible. Upon researching about them, I found out that their direct exposure to skin is hazardous in the long run. So we need to be very careful in procuring the right kind of waste.
• Converting the scrap into an object which doesn’t let the viewer guess that its actually an upcycled product – Our main USP was to reuse waste in such a way that it did not look like the product was a result of the upcycle process. Transforming this waste to make it not look like waste is not exactly easy! The recycling phenomenon in the minds of people is limited to products made of tetra packs, tyres, poly bags and paper. It was both challenging and interesting to change this mindset of people and explain to them how we can upcycle with simple day to day materials even at home
• Bringing about the awareness of the NEED to be environmentally conscious
We are optimists by having set up a business on a conviction that our economy is gradually becoming sustainable. Despite the challenges, we are steering ourselves towards a green economy facing while overcoming stiff resistance in the pursuit of a greener planet.
• High price concern – Our target market is middle income households of housewives and the youth. People have had this false impression of recycled eco friendly products being low priced ever since the inception of the ‘green’ concept. It was not that easy to explain to the consumers that even though the raw material is bought at a low value, the time spent in processing it and making it usable adds a chunk to the labour cost. Employing all handmade processes also contributes to the high price factor.
• Negative notion of products being made from scrap – A lot of people were hesitant to buy products as they termed it as “stuff made from kachra”. That was rather a very unexpected notion we faced.
• Procuring & upcycling the right kind of scrap – Procuring waste & making it usable by employing eco-friendly methods as opposed to treating it with chemicals was challenging too. For instance, a few friends suggested reusing old VHS tapes (the black tape in video cassettes). It sounded like a good idea as these tapes are strong and flexible. Upon researching about them, I found out that their direct exposure to skin is hazardous in the long run. So we need to be very careful in procuring the right kind of waste.
• Converting the scrap into an object which doesn’t let the viewer guess that its actually an upcycled product – Our main USP was to reuse waste in such a way that it did not look like the product was a result of the upcycle process. Transforming this waste to make it not look like waste is not exactly easy! The recycling phenomenon in the minds of people is limited to products made of tetra packs, tyres, poly bags and paper. It was both challenging and interesting to change this mindset of people and explain to them how we can upcycle with simple day to day materials even at home
• Bringing about the awareness of the NEED to be environmentally conscious
We are optimists by having set up a business on a conviction that our economy is gradually becoming sustainable. Despite the challenges, we are steering ourselves towards a green economy facing while overcoming stiff resistance in the pursuit of a greener planet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)