A second life to waste
The Hindu
Utility objects like table lamps, drinking glasses, soap dispensers and exquisite platters are fashioned from old alcohol bottles by Kavi, The Poetry-Art Project, which believes on giving discarded items a second chance
Some liquor bottles are just too beautiful to throw away. Many times, they sit in a desolate corner of the kitchen, collecting dust long after they have been emptied. More than a decade ago — long before the concept of ‘upcycling’ became trendy— Madhuri Balodi and Amit Singh had the brainwave of repurposing things that had seemingly outlived their functionality.
Their venture Kavi, The Poetry-Art Project, is the first of its kind in India and has blossomed from its humble beginnings in 2012. “We started with ₹2,000 in our pockets and a big dream,” says Madhuri. They began turning empty liquor bottles into table lamps, and then, drinking glasses, by utilising the base of the bottle. Today, Kavi’s website boasts a wide array of upcycled products, ranging from soap dispensers fashioned out of Old Monk bottles to tableware like bowls and platters made from Bombay Sapphire gin discards.
“We began with a hit-and-trial method,” explains Madhuri in a chat over the telephone. “We started with lamps and drinking glasses, but as we had new ideas, we experimented with how to make them work and kept expanding our line,” she says. When asked if Kavi has any new products in the pipeline, she says that it all depends on a burst of creativity, as well as new ideas from customers. “We can try anything and everything; he possibilities of transforming something that one initially considers garbage are actually limitless,” she adds.
Most of their raw material comes from wholesalers and rag-pickers. “We have, over the years, created an ecosystem of about 200 rag-pickers from whom we collect bottles discarded by households,” says Madhuri, adding with pride that Kavi pays the kabadiwalas (scrap dealers) well above what they typically receive, to include them as stakeholders in the brand’s vision. The work begins with basic quality control, followed by a clean-up that includes buffing and polishing the glassware until it is repurposed into stoppered jars, planters, and even tea light holders.
Kavi has also expanded into products from materials like cork and seed paper. While those products are not technically upcycled, Madhuri explains that the result is completely sustainable and biodegradable. “We source grain from Spain and Portugal, which we make into cork sheets,” she says. Kavi then turns those sheets into coasters, stoppers, and even engraved yoga mats.
Kavi also offers custom services to anybody who has a large array of empty bottles and has no idea what to do with them. The service, cheekily titled ‘BYOB - Bring Your Own Bottle’, is available to all those living across India, who can send in their old glassware to Kavi’s Noida workshop by courier and choose a bespoke design.
“We also run a pick-and-drop service for the people of Delhi-NCR, where we charge a nominal fee of ₹100 to pick up their glassware, chat with them over the phone about what we can make it into, and another ₹100 to deliver the finished piece back to them,” says Madhuri, who loves brainstorming with customers to get as imaginative with the pieces as possible.