HYDERABAD: What does one do with all the junk lying around in their house? Take it to the kabbadiwala, right? Wrong!
Ever thought that your junk could be someone else’s raw material for creating funky and uber decorative items or could be used as a refashioned lamp, a planter, as a photo frame or even a gift box?
This seemingly unlikely option, will transform into a fantastic one of not only salvaging and upscaling scrap, but also for your interiors, the moment you see the decorative bric-a-brat created by Funk A Junk.
Meet Amrita Sindu -- the brain behind the brand that boasts of creating funny, quirky and intrinsically aesthetic articles straight from your junkyard.
Funk A Junk’s birth resulted from a Bollywood-like story when Amrita, an auditor with Deloitte decided to quit her high-paying job in pursuit of her passion. With supported family, along with friends Pratyush Singh, Nancy Kapoor, Swarna Chaganty and Barun Anand – she started Funk A Junk.
“After working for two years, I realised I wasn’t happy with what I was doing. So I followed my true calling, left job and took to crafts – something at which I have been good since childhood,” says Amrita who feels that she is happy that she had the guts and the support system to quit a secure and well paying job to chase her dreams. “Yes, there have been difficulties, especially financial. Whatever I earn from Funk A Junk, I put it back in the business. Being a start-up, we still have a long way to go. So, being patient is another thing I am learning,” she shares.
Apart from giving wings to her creative self, Funk a Junk – which is yet to be registered, is also sort of a movement to which she devotes all her attention and time, while the other funk junkies associated part time with it.
“For me I knew I will not be able to juggle two things so diverse as auditing and being creative, so I quit one. Pratyush co-owns the brand and others help in designing products after they are done with their professional duty,” Amrita smiles and says.
Though there is a lot of junk created all around, the team is particular about where it picks up its raw materials from. “We target gated communities and societies in and around Hitec City which are mostly inhabited by middle and upper middle class people, who throw away the waste instead of recycling it. We have a collection desk in a couple of these societies, where people come and dump their junk,” Amrita reveals. From beer bottles to ketchup and plastic bottles, old clothes to even retired furniture, Funk A Junk team accepts all types of waste, segregates what they need, and hands over articles like clothes that are in good condition to NGOs. What’s more is that as a token of appreciation, they also give a goodie to those who hand over waste to them! Agreeing that it is not easy to salvage waste into esthetically appealing products, Amrita tells us that a lot of ideation goes into it. “We use glass and plastic bottles, paper, cartons and clothes to make vases, photo frames, planters, lampshades, candle stands, bookmarks and bags,” Amrita says and adds that more than work it is fun because the entire team is bitten by the creativity bug. “Experimenting, pushing boundaries and being creative gets more fun when you are doing it with your buddies,” she admits.
Despite being a nascent brand, that is still grappling with existential issues, has very limited resources, uses Facebook as its only marketing platform, Amrita and her teammates have big dreams. “We want to educate people that even a soda can is not waste. If you hand it over to us we will reuse it and delay its entry into the landfill by a few years at least,” says Amrita and adds that they are in talks with supermarket chains to start their retail sections with them. “Considering our reasonable price range, I am confident people will love what Funk A Junk has to offer.”