CHENNAI: Recycled paper embedded with crushed petals and seeds as the base. Leaves and twigs as embellishments. Dried flowers for decoration. Snekha Ragavendran’s wedding invites are a work of art. What started as a hobby, with just paper and a pair of scissors, evolved into a full-fledged business called Scraft Wedding Invites, in 2016. “A relative dropped off her son’s wedding invitation at home. It was a mundane design. I wanted to do a card that’d have both creativity and luxury aspects to it. Then began the mindful journey of curating natural raw materials from the garden and weaving them into my design. I single-handedly take care of the production,” said Snekha, founder of Scraft Wedding Invites.
Snekha’s invites are custom-made and orders are taken four to eight weeks before the distribution date since the materials used are perishable. Recycled papers are ground and made at her house. Flowers are collected from her hometown Hosur and some are locally sourced. The seeds from the flowers are collected, dried and preserved along with petals to prevent fungal growth. “One round of recycling paper produces material only for 15 sheets. A flower changes colour after it dries. All this has to be taken into consideration because each card is a time-consuming process. They are all hand-made, fragile, and consistency has to be maintained. I accept no more than 250 cards for bulk orders,” said the resident of Kilpauk, who has a studio. She has around 20 designs that people can pick from.
Snekha customises cards for weddings, baby shower, engagement, cocktail party and mehendi functions. One of her favourite designs is a hand-painted wooden coaster placed inside a cloth envelope that she had designed for a couple. “Most of them go for floral designs that are durable and bio-degradable. Some prefer quirky elements and I’m open to suggestions. It’s a collaborative process. My cards don’t come in standard sizes, shapes or patterns,” she said.To give it an auspicious feel, she also uses traditional flowers, leaves and seeds like dried lemon skin, hibiscus petals and neem leaves. “I recently collected manjadi seeds. It was used to weigh gold in olden days and surprisingly the seeds were all of the same sizes,” she shared.
Snekha feels that couples now are more open to the idea of eco-friendly wedding invites. November to March is a busy season for Snekha. She wants to open an outlet and employ more women in her business. She also does installations for exhibitions and weddings. Wedding invites are priced from `60 per card.
For details, visit Instagram page Scraft-Paper Redefined, or call: 9036013450