UPES School of Design students – Khyati Gupta, Ridhi Sood, and Kashish Kohli – under the guidance of their professor Manas Ranjan Misra, have created biodegradable and eco-friendly products that are zero-waste and come with zero-waste packaging

Everyone loves gifts, especially during the festive season. However, these presents also add to the rising carbon footprint and cause harm to the environment. What if we had the option of making our loved ones as well as the planet happy?

Thanks to innovative young minds, there are several sustainable products available now that are excellent gifting options. UPES School of Design students – Khyati Gupta, Ridhi Sood, and Kashish Kohli – together called Team Kalakrit, under the guidance of their professor Manas Ranjan Misra, have created biodegradable and eco-friendly products that can be given on any occasion.

The students make baked clay earrings, home décor items and therapeutic aromatic candles. They also take customised orders for similar products. The products are organic, vegan, natural, sustainable, recycled, handmade and biodegradable.

What was the inspiration behind the concept? Khyati Gupta says, “The idea came from the basic thought of ‘wastage and burden’ that a rakhi creates in its wake. Due to religious reasons, the thread cannot be disposed of in a bin and plastic is extremely harmful to nature. We can do a lot for our environment by making gifting options at home with eco-friendly materials instead of plastics, sparkles, beads, etc., caring for the environment, while retaining style, coolness, purpose, and fashion. Our products are zero-waste and come with zero-waste packaging.”

She adds, “Through our products, we attempt to support the families who have lost their primary breadwinners due to Covid-19. We want to support underprivileged people by offering them employment opportunities. We  also intend to conduct workshops in the less developed areas to create awareness of these handicrafts. We even want to expand our venture, targeting all the Indian festivals and events.”

The response to their products has been encouraging. Kashish Kohli says, “We are overwhelmed with the feedback that we got from our audience. Some people have even extolled our products as ‘revolutionary’. Some people also appreciated the finishing and design, and we are going to keep improving on it in all our upcoming projects. UPES provided us with a platform and audience who supported us throughout."