Designwala

ReThink Waste = Thunk in India

by Ria Rajan

India’s headcount of approximately 1.17 billion people consists of more than one-sixth of the world’s population. In a country as large as this, it is rather alarming that there is no Indian policy document, which examines waste as part of a cycle of production-consumption-recovery or perceives the issue of waste through a prism of overall sustainability. In fact, government interventions have been fragmented and are often contradictory and fail to even to manage waste in a cyclic process. Waste management still is an undeviating system of collection, disposal and creating health and environmental hazards. Waste management thus poses as a fertile ground and stimulus for design innovation in this country.

One example of such sustainable design is Thunk In India. Thunk as an organisation was formed in January 2009. Thunk began as a creative venture, and is an extension of Suren Vikhash’s graduation project at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore India. Thunk is a brainchild of social entrepreneurship and design facilitation. The primal node that the project centered around was to try and reduce the outrageous amounts of waste generated everyday in Bangalore. One way that was identified to tackle this issue was to `re-use’ a product, thereby increasing its life. By looking at different ways to manage waste at source and by understanding how the existing system works, Team Thunk has understood how intervention at various points with small changes can result in big differences. They have, thus decided to make the so-called ‘useless’ waste ‘useful’, providing value for these otherwise discarded materials.

Thunk’s vision is to innovate with everyday waste materials, whether the materials are from household waste, industrial waste or natural waste. A lot of these waste materials have a long life span, but only a small percentage of its life span is utilized before it is discarded and reaches the dump yards. They use this so called waste, as new rich raw materials to innovate with (processing innovations, weave exploration and product innovation). This not only utilizes the waste materials and increases their life span but also reduces new natural resources from being used up. They re-use and thereby “up-cycle”, following a cradle to cradle design approach (i.e. waste from one process is used as “food” for another; waste = food).

Another one of their interventions has been targeted at empowering the livelihoods of under privileged communities. Under privileged communities including slum families and self help groups. HIV patients and tribes have been involved in various aspects of Thunk’s Up-cycling process. People from these communities form an integral part of the team. They are equal contributors and co creators of all Thunk products.

Rag pickers play a crucial role in the waste management system. They are the ones who initiate the process by primary waste collection. If it were not for them, the process would not start. Despite their valuable contribution towards the process of waste management, they are looked down at. Through this project, Team Thunk hopes to empower the livelihoods of these people and also bring them recognition for their valuable contribution.  Thunk operates on fair trade principles. Thunk currently designs 2 kinds of product ranges – Lifestyle accessories and Home décor and Furniture. Through their products and designs, they cater to audiences who are looking for green, eco friendly alternative products. They aim to provide alternatives for one to go green. The general notion is that eco friendly and organic products are either too expensive or not attractive. Thus leaving one to feel like there is a compromise one has to make in order to become eco-friendly. Thunk focuses on creating attractive, well-designed and cost effective products that would break the above notion and provide an alternative for people to wish to adopt a more conscious lifestyle.

Thunk In India has the following operational procedures and activities in place (In Bangalore):

·       Weaving setup in a village near Pollachi, Tamil Nadu

·       Tailoring setup in Bangalore

·       Furniture setup in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

·       Design Exploration and Development Hub set up in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

·       Marketing and supply of our products to various Outlets and Client based projects

All Thunk products are available in India and are currently retailed in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Goa, Maharashtra and West Bengal. To know more, you can visit – www.thunkinindia.com