Clear cut creativity
Manveen and her friends have taken ‘best out of waste’ to an all new level with Hobby In A Box.They use old glass bottles to make something quirky and add a colourful touch to your homes.
CHENNAI: Have you ever wondered what to do with empty glass bottles piling up at home? Manveen Kaur has the answer to that. Hobby In A Box, a venture started by three friends — Manveen Kaur, Salony Singla, and Rekha Kumari offers various Do-It-Yourself (DIY) products as well as conducts workshops to help you create beautiful craft-items from old bottles and also other recycled materials. Manveen, who will be in the city to conduct a workshop on bottle-cutting, talks to City Express.
The idea of cutting glass bottles and turning them into a decorative piece struck Manveen when her scrap dealer refused to take her old bottles. “He told me that the quality of the glass was too poor and hence refused to take them from me. That is when I thought about creating something useful out of these bottles,”says Manveen.
Talking about the process, Manveen says, “There are three parts to the bottle cutting workshops that I conduct. First, I teach you how to cut the bottles.” The bottles are generally cut with the help of a diamond tip scorer and then are stressed further to break it. This process helps in creating the perfect cut and has to be done carefully.
People are usually asked to get around four to five bottles and are made to cut it during the workshop. “Then the cut bottles are decorated with any piece of material. Paintings, beads, stick-ons…anything that can be decorative is used to make the bottles look pretty.”
And finally, the bottles are given an electric fitting. “This was a concept we introduced recently, because even after cutting and decorating the bottles, more often than not, they went back into garages. So we thought that by giving them an electric fitting, it could be used as lamps,” she adds.
How difficult is it to perform this task? “The difficulty level depends on how it is performed. If the instructions are followed properly, then it is extremely easy to cut the bottle,” she says.
Anybody above 14 can learn this activity. Manveen promotes recycled products, making it much more cost-effective than other craft activities.
Hobby In A Box is an e-venture and was founded in Bengaluru two years ago and since then, the team has been conducting workshops in cities like Mumbai and Pune too. “We have a full-fledged team in Bengaluru since we started off from there. But now we are looking to expand our base. We have been conducting workshops in other cities and are looking forward to taking it ahead.”
The workshop’s idea is to bring out the creative best in anyone and use something that’s available. “Our workshops focus on creativity, more than trying to gather up materials. It’s DIY and that is the motive behind all our workshops ”
Manveen Kaur will be conducting the bottle cutting workshop at Studio Pepperfry on May 27 at 10:30 am