The Upcycle Movement
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Do you nurture a chronic hoarder within you? Glass bottles, coloured paper, feathers, scraps of cloth and more figure in your secret stash? Then, the trash to treasure route is for you and chances are you will meet 24-year-old Jyothi Jacob along the way. The jewellery designer and entrepreneur from Pathanamthitta can definitely give you a tip or two on upcycling all that comes within arms’ reach. And more importantly, she and her two-year-old venture, Innate Designs, show you how it’s done with thoughts spared for the environment.
Art salvaged
A graduate from the Army Institute of Fashion & Design (Bangalore) and the Indian Institute of Jewellery Designing & Manufacturing at Mumbai, Jacob is focussed on crafting with a difference. While the Kerala connect occupies pride of place in the form of coconut shells, Jacob’s flair for experimentation is visible in the hen and quail egg shells that lie around her workspace. “It helps that we use at least one coconut each day at home,” she laughs, adding that the patterns on quail eggs intrigue her.
Armed with the Dremel4000 power tool, Jacob drills into the shells to fashion jewellery that is one of its kind. Pieces of carved coconut shell are looped together in neckpieces, some are strung with beads and shaped into earrings that resemble Maasai women and others completed with Peruvian string art. The line also features butterfly-shaped brooches and chandbalis and has been well received at exhibitions like Sunday Soul Sante and Flea080 at Bangalore.
While the coconut shell range stays true to the natural brown, the jhumkas and pendants fashioned out of egg shells are a riot of colours. Think shades of blue and pink. “The egg shells began as an experiment and I had to read up on strengthening the brittle material. Multiple coatings of varnish did the trick. The only problem is in finding similar sized eggs for the jhumkas,” she explains. Jacob also powders the shells and dyes them to be used as embellishments on the coconut-based fare, as in the order of tortoise and star fish-shaped napkin rings that she’s shipping to Andaman.
A thrifty tale
Confessing to storing everything that she finds, Jacob stocks up on empty deodorant cans that are turned into candle holders and brooches. Old newspapers find new life in rings, empty cases of pen refills are transformed into neckpieces with silk threads, plastic is reused in earrings, seashells are bunched into pendants and pistachio shells coloured and tied into strings. Our favourites are definitely the pendant made of a mahogany seed wing finished with dried leaves and the pendants with fossilised butterflies, for they carry well the elegance of handmade.
Egg shell jewellery priced from Rs 500, coconut shell from Rs 80-1800. Details: facebook.com/jo.innatedesigns