First, it was just a brown board. Later, it became a table. Then assumed to be trash, it was stolen. But when this city-based innovator’s creation was found at a local scrap shop, tarnished, it completed a perfect circle of waste recycling: transformed, re-used, rejected, and recycled. “If I’m being honest, my first thought when I found out it was stolen was that this would actually make a great post for social media,” laughs Karthic Rathinam, founder of Out of the Box. It might have been disheartening to anyone else to see a handmade piece, an initiative at a local tea shop, vanishing within the blink of an eye, discarded along with tins and pipes. But to Karthic, it is merely a step back.
A product design graduate, Karthic’s experiments began in a rented house with zero furnishing and plenty of moving boxes during his college days in Pune. “I have heard that only a few people have used cardboard to make usable products. So I took up the challenge and made a stool for starters, later, moved on to making a bed, a chair, and I set up my whole living room,” he shares about the initial spark. “Hearing the compliments and noting the curiosity in people, I thought if I ever set up a business, I would probably make cardboard products,” he says.
Business models
Karthic soon established a foundation for his business in 2020 during the pandemic. He made sanitiser stands out of cardboard, sold them to businesses nationwide, and even licensed the idea to a South African company for royalty. “I have always wanted to start a business, and after trying out a few things, the idea of cardboard just stuck,” he says.
Out of the Box was incepted in 2021. Since then, Karthic and his team of nine, supported by interns and contractors, have worked on nearly 700 different projects and with 300 clients in the B2B (Business-to-Business) model. Revamping their B2C (Business-to-Consumer) model, they are planning to restock their products for sale. They have created many functional household products like desks, stools, lamps, shelves, laptop stands, and pen stands. One of his recent works includes cajon drums, and sculptures he has made have found a space in the city like the Australian Consulate, One People Festival (February 2024), and TEDxNapier’s Hackathon (April 2024).
The products are user-friendly, designed for easy assembly. He says, “We use an interlocking system because: One, many people may find it difficult to use the product if we use adhesives or screws and bolts, which ultimately affects the sales. Two, products can be shipped easily and efficiently when flat-packed, reducing the cost and damage.”
Of teams and dreams
These innovative ideas are not formed at scheduled brainstorming sessions or boardroom meetings. They are a result of a hands-on cardboard routine. “Have you seen Phineas and Ferb? Our office is like that. Every day, someone is building something new. It might be a joke or a random idea, or something real. But we make things daily,” he says.
The team is planning to make their projects long-lasting, completely waterproof, fire-resistant, and indoor and outdoor friendly. “We use our common sense and basic material knowledge when making something.”
Providing something unique, Karthic is steadily expanding his products. He now plans to dedicate an entire line of Montessori furniture, like slides, a ladder, and other play items. “It’s safe, super lightweight, and printable with colours. Even if it falls, it won’t hurt the child. And it’s light enough to lift with one hand,” he says. Following that, Karthic dreams of doing pop-up event booths, inspired by viral Chinese videos. And there is more on his wish list.
But maybe the most passionate idea floating on Karthic’s mind, quite literally, is a cardboard boat. He had already experimented with this during the 2024 monsoon; the boat lasted for three to four hours in water. Later, he and his team built a kayak-style boat and took it for a sail to an island. “We put it to the test. Since it wasn’t designed with comfort for the person on the boat, it couldn’t balance. Yet, it floated on water. That counts as a win ,too.” He is working on this with a vision to put this boat into use during emergencies in coastal and flood-prone areas.
A cardboard boat surely sounds absurd, but a cardboard stool did too until he proved it can withstand nearly two to three kilos. Karthic is not just on a mission to save the planet with cardboard, but primarily following his passion and creative calling.
For details, visit: www.outofthebox.sale