Diwali symbolises ‘victory of light over darkness or good over evil’. The festival is celebrated by illuminating homes and other places with earthern diyas, lanterns or contemporary fancy lights. There are several places selling Diwali lights, but with a greater awareness of eco-friendly products, green decor is increasingly finding takers.
Handmade Paper Institute, which is a part of Maharashtra State Khadi and Village Industries Board, has been offering eye-catching Diwali lamps made with sustainable material for the past few years. This year too, the institute, located at Shivajinagar, near Agriculture College, Pune, has a vast range of lamps. If you stop by, you will also come across a six feet tall paper lantern made by the staff of the institute.
Shobhana Hadap, co-founder and creative director of Studiomars, which has been managing Handmade Paper Institute, says, “This is a government entity, we only manage the place. That’s because, as designers, we understand the market better and bring more design oriented products. The idea is to make this establishment more sustainable. Also, we have made a brand named Pune Handmade Papers under this institute.”
Studiomars is an established design house which has been in existence for around 20 years.
Bringing back the tradition
Hadap firmly believes in celebrating Diwali in a more sustainable way. Telling us how she got into sustainable designing, she says, “We started with the idea of reusing waste to create a lifestyle product. Traditionally, Diwali was celebrated by lighting oil lamps. Later, people started bursting crackers which led to environmental pollution. Luckily now, people have become aware of the harm that crackers cause to the environment. We are trying to get back our age-old traditional values, but by giving it a modern twist. For instance, earlier, people would make their own kandils (lanterns). There was a tradition where grandmothers would teach kids how to make kandils, but now the art is dying. Paper lanterns were traditionally used across India but now with Chinese products flooding the markets, sustainable products find fewer buyers, which is sad.”
Hadap adds that she aims at bringing back the culture of lantern making. “We have made it really simple. Customers can buy the DIY kit and try it themselves or gift the kit to someone, instead of a box of chocolates. Most of our range of products is made from particle board, which is made of sawdust.”
Hadap has a flat pack lantern that can be assembled and easily used as a lantern, and after the festival one can easily dismantle it. “DIY is a globalised word but it is what we used to do traditionally at home. It is not only a form of sustainable gifting, it is a form of educating the kids and involving them. Many cultural traditions and art forms have been modernised, however, no one has taken the art of Indian lantern making to a different level, not just as a part of Diwali but as a part of day-to-day life,” she mentions.
Handmade Paper Institute has various types of lanterns with a contemporary touch like archigami which is architectural origami and has a science of its own.
Inspiration for designs
When asked about the inspiration for designs, she says, “Our inspiration comes from two completely contrasting elements. One is the cultural roots and the other is the way European markets look at simplifying things along with keeping the details. It is all about managing both these values. The bottom line is that we want to have everything Indian along with keeping the process Westernised.”
The range of lanterns at Handmade Paper Institute starts from Rs 350.
