If someone says that you can make only gunny bags out of jute, it’s time they are introduced to Jucoholic’s products. “That’s our goal actually. We want to change people’s perspective of how they look at jute,” says 28-year-old BCom graduate Sobna Kamakshee, who started Jucoholic in 2011 along with her friend, Gayathri Rajaraman in Chennai. They make contemporary bags using jute and cotton, right from laptop bags to compact water bottle holders that are stylish as well as eco-friendly.
“Right from college, the two of us were into earthy, organic accessories,” says Kamakshee, before adding, “But after we graduated, I went into jewellery designing and Gayathri was working for a private firm. We visited an exhibition in the city and found the jute bags at a particular stall to be of really good quality with stylish designs. That’s when the idea struck. We wondered why people couldn’t replace leather with jute or cotton. Jute by itself isn’t fancy looking, so all we needed to do was make it look smart. We did our research and managed to print a few of our designs on the fabric as a trial.”
But not many knew about jute bags back in 2011. “For an event at college, we persuaded our alma mater, Ethiraj College for Women to give out our custom-made jute goodie bags and we received excellent feedback. That’s how Jucoholic started. We use both jute and cotton fabric, hence the name,” explains Gayathri. From putting up stalls at colleges, they have moved to big corporate orders and customised wedding goodie bags across the country. They intend to start getting on eCommerce sites in few months that will make it easier for people all over the country to buy their jute-worthy products.
Reach Out: www.jucoholic.in