When you’re in the business of fashion, it’s not unnatural to spend a bit of time tearing away packaging, discarding tons of paper and processing the sheer volume of ecological side-effects that fast fashion has. This is what prompted Bengaluru-based fashion designer Runa Ray to turn waste into seed paper! The designer who has showcased her line at the New York Fashion Week several times before is now creating bio-degradable, non-toxic paper that is artfully embedded with vegetable, fruits or flower seeds that, once done, you can plant to watch them grow! She tells us more about her green initiative.
According to the business of fashion graduate from ESIV in Paris, a seed is a starting point of every idea and a metaphor for growth, and that’s where the idea springs forth. “I was inspired by the fact that one always tears off packaging and there is tons of paper that is wasted or needs recycling every day. This is true even with fast fashion clothing, which amounts to a great deal of ecological dump. Why not harvest this waste and put it to use?” she asks, inspired. The designer who is green at heart and is working to also reduce the need for industrial washes and dyes in her designs, collaborated with her brother, Roshan Ray who already runs their family paper mills biz. “I think as a designer one needs to be environmentally conscious and aware of fashion and its impact in the future of our society. Thus, by recycling old garments – especially cotton, we have put it to another use by making seed paper,” she adds.
The paper, Runa says, can be used for everything from wedding invites to thank you cards, something she now stocks up at her Indiranagar studio, Voute. “What’s most satisfying is to literally watch your cards grow when you’re done with them,” she muses, talking about the innovative way in which people can now tune in with nature. The technique to make it is just as creative too – you begin by beating paper or cotton garments to pulp, infusing seeds and lifting the paper in sheets and letting them hang dry. “By putting waste to a creative purpose, I think it’s the way forward in environmental consciousness,” she says, hoping to soon fuse fashion, art and sustainability in her upcoming projects.
