One seed grows into numerous flowers, says Meghna Ajit. A decade back, an idea to develop a community that would design environmentally sustainable interventions in day-to-day life has grown into a group that has been endeavouring to develop eco-friendly products. Bamboo and wood furniture with nivar and canvas, interiors with bamboo and mud, handmade paper articles, tokris, baskets with cone-craft art and other gift items are few of their innovations.
“We wanted to provide an alternative to the environmentally antagonistic range of products commonly available in the market through basic hand tools and skills,” says Meghna, founder member of Beeja, a self-supported and self-funded initiative by UCMA Design Studio.
Meghna, along with her two colleagues, Meeta Goel and Arshad Kafeel, has adopted the local communities around Pilakhua, a rural area near Ghaziabad, under the initiative.
Beeja has also been involved in reviving the traditional crafts industry to create sustainable livelihoods for underprivileged local artisans. Some of the crafts promoted by them are block-carving, block printing, bamboo craft, rope making, appliqué work, handloom, kattha basket weaving, cone craft and papier-mâché. “Today we have about 300 artisans working with us. We train them and also help them find livelihood in their traditional crafts,” says Meeta. Most of these artisans are from outskirts of Delhi.
One would think that being a livelihood-generating project, Beeja must have been welcomed with open arms by the artisans. However, that hasn’t been the case, says Meghna. “Once when we were in a village to educate people about our programme, the sarpanch thought we were a threat to his stronghold over the village and to threaten us broke all our car windows. There has been opposition from other export groups. However, the average artisan has always been supportive,” smiles Meghna.
Beeja has a niche clientele and they get corporate orders as well. They exhibit their products at various exhibitions including Basant Bazaar, Dastkar fair and Craft Council of India fairs across the country. Its products are also available in shops across India.
“We are planning to spread wings overseas as well. For this, we will soon come up with an online portal for Beeja,” says Arshad.