Tiny Farm Friends Ep. 11
In New Delhi, we have a mountain of garbage as tall as the iconic Qutub Minar (73 meters high). As designers and creators, we ought to ask ourselves these important questions: What are we making? How are we making? How well are we making? What happens to the product at the end of its cycle? Our Guest today believes that no waste should go waste. She has researched and worked with all kinds of waste, from Industrial, Plastic to Medical waste. She helps big corporations shift from a linear economy to a circular economy. Meet Shubhi Sachan. Shubhi Sachan is a multidisciplinary designer who works as a consultant for various companies. In 2014, she graduated with M.A. in Material Futures at Central Saint Martins’ School of Art and Design in London where she developed her projects such as Life of a bullet & Traditional Futures. These projects were focused on manmade & agricultural waste and its impact on our everyday life. Prior to this Shubhi has been working as a surface designer for brands such as Givenchy, Balmain, Alexander McQueen, Ralph Lauren, etc.
" BEFORE TOO SOON, WHEN OUR NATURAL RESOURCES BECOME SCARCE & WASTE ACCUMULATION REACHES A TIPPING POINT, WASTE STREAMS WILL BECOME THE FUTURE QUARRIES FOR MINING MATERIALS. "
Images Courtesy: Shubhi Sachan Shubhi embarked on her journey to sustainability after spending six years working with the fashion/textile industry and realizing the materiality involved in the process of making products vs the presentation of the finished objects. There was a huge disconnect between the two worlds, which eventually became the most unsettling feeling for her. Shubhi’s current work is about channelizing post-industrial and agricultural waste, where she is not only proposing alternative ways to use the materials but also altering the conventional notion of waste being sent to landfill or incineration units. Her current practice, Material Library of India, focuses on investigating value chains and making waste materials come to life again by remodeling the use of industrial & agricultural waste materials by combining the knowledge and skills of traditional crafts with modern materials. Shubhi has been a TEDx Speaker in 2018, a Lexus Design Award Finalist in 2018, CII Green Co. Best Practices Award in 2016. She has also been invited to present work at various prestigious platforms such as Lakme Fashion Week, Mumbai in 2017, Ambiente Talents at Messe Frankfurt in 2017, London Design Week from 2014 to 2016, and Dutch Design Week 2015 & 2020. Roche Bobois Student Design Competition in Paris 2013. In this conversation, we talk about materials, her sustainability journey, and setting up her practice - the material library of India. We talk about the future of industrial and agricultural waste, her inspirations, and much more. It was an absolute masterclass for me to understand materiality. This podcast is not only for the designers but for everyone who wants to be more conscious about their daily life consumption choices, so let's rethink waste with Shubhi Sachan. Enjoy the conversation! You can watch it on Youtube or stream it on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite platform. You can dive deeper into her work and reach out to Shubhi on the following links: Website: http://materiallibraryofindia.com/ Ted Talk: Rebirth of Materials for Tedx, Chandigarh, India, 2018 https://youtu.be/cKwEjWvOqz8 Instagram: @material_library_of_india , @shubhisachan