Mixing Craft And Sustainability To Make Jewellery

Gujarat is a state famous for its textile crafts. These crafts still survive because of continued patronage, support and demand. One of the people reviving the crafts of Gujarat is Nidhi Lodha. Her affinity for craft and handwork led to the creation of 'June'. Talking about the idea behind starting June, a brand that turns scrap into jackets and jewellery, Nidhi Lodha, Founder of June, said,

I am a 90's kid who was born in Gujarat and has always been close to craft and handwork. Ever since I was a kid, my mom would make me wear a lot of jewellery. She was also fond of jewellery. Growing up I realised everything is happening on machines, there's hardly any handwork done. I always wished to make pouches and jewellery. I wanted it to be affordable and something that can be worn every day and not just like a blouse piece or saree. Eseentially, making art wearable.

Kutch is home to some of India's most colourful heritage and it reflects in Nidhi's work. Talking more about her work, she said, 

We started this business seven years back. We started with jewellery, upcycling and Kutchi patches. We have people who take scraps from Kutch villages and around. We have tie-ups with different designers across the city they give up their scraps. That's how we make our jackets and jewellery. The jackets will have different mediums like a handcrafted mirror, the Kutchi work, and beaded motifs. The base jackets are also upcycled. Some jackets come in surplus and usually have defects. We cover those defects with patchwork otherwise they'll go in dumpsters. If we're making a piece of jewellery and there's some scrap, we'll use that as well to make more jewellery.

June is not just about colours but seeing textile and fabric waste as a resource as well. Nidhi said,

We play a lot with colours and that's what our customers love. We stitch the patches so beautifully that it doesn't look upcycled and looks like a piece of art.

June has also been a haven for several women coming from abusive backgrounds. Nidhi taught them the basics and today, she shares heartwarming stories of success from her studio.

One of them has been working with us for seven years. She bought a house from the income, and her husband stopped beating her. It was such an achievement. What we realised was that we need to empower them and give them a skill set to work. And if teaching the basics is getting them some income and making them safe then it's a win-win for all of us.

But not all women can come to the workshop. Some women have families to take care of, and many don't even have the basic right to be able to leave their homes. That's where June steps in, to ensure no woman who wants to work is left behind. Many artisans come and collect raw material from Nidhi and give it to other women to work on as well, making this a well-spread-out network.

Currently, June has 30-35 women working on and off. If there's an exhibition or if we have a big order then the network of women helps us, said Nidhi.

Remember when your old clothes would be passed on to your younger sibling? Or your mother's old saree would be turned into a kurta? That certainly had a deep impact on Nidhi.

To me, upcycling comes naturally. Hoarding doesn't because I have become more aware of the damage it is doing to the environment. It's not something I had to fight with. It's very natural for me to upcycle clothes. One of my jackets had a tear so I put a patch on it. I wear it and people love it. Upcycling is the future and also about styling yourself and realising how much harm you are doing to society. If you're wearing a shirt and it doesn't look nice, get a patch from outside, put on it, or pay someone to upcycle that cloth. It'll cost lesser to you and the environment both.

Upcycling scraps, giving opportunities to women, and promoting art and culture, now that's what we're talking about in Clothes with a Conscience.

Living in a society, if all of us do our bit, even the smallest of things like giving away our clothes to the needy, only then can we grow as a society. And it's a contribution from everybody that we can grow, said Nidhi while signing off.