CHENNAI: Garbage by day, glass by night. That’s Mridula Harihar’s routine in a nutshell. The 25-year-old, who juggles a newly launched label called ‘Full Fuse’ that showcases her glass creations and a role in design as part of the Kabadiwalla Connect (KC) team, in fact, stumbled upon her ‘office’ job while on the search for used glass bottles. From a pendant for a necklace made using an old poster paint container to wedding invitation scrolls slipped into old Aavin milk bottles, given the beachy vibe using a little blue paint and the ‘drip effect’ — creative pieces in her line of work constantly reach into garbage bins for inspiration, with astounding end results.“Most kabadiwallas promise they’ll keep aside the brands of alcohol bottles I like to work with like Absolut Vodka and Grey Goose but then they forget, so I decided to approach KC hoping they could help me out with stash,” she explains. One thing led to another and now Mridula is on her way to not only playing an aesthetic role within this youth-driven recycle initiative that is involved in mapping scrap dealers, but also hopes to create a design collective that follows the ‘upcycle’ route. If you’re wondering what the difference between recycle and upcycle is — here’s the simple explanation. The first can’t be done at home, the second with a little imagination can turn trash to treasure. And in Mridula’s case, treasure is the 1,000 glass bottles sitting all over the floor of her studio space in Besant Nagar...............Read more

Source web page: The New Indian Express