Trash course

A young designer is kicking butt for the environment

Growing up in Mumbai, Sachi Tungare was driven to learn about product and furniture design by her mother’s passion for home decoration. She recently graduated in industrial design from India’s Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, and her degree project, Jugaad, was born from extensive research into materials and waste, and how the latter can be repurposed to create functional design objects. ‘Being environmentally conscious is no longer a choice,’ she says. Jugaad focuses on two types of waste: discarded floral matter from daily prayer rituals and festivals, and cigarette butts, whose filters contains cellulose acetate, a material that frequently ends up polluting the oceans. With the former, the designer developed an alternative to the single-use plastic used in hotel amenities and toiletries, while the latter was treated to eliminate toxins and then moulded into forms such as coasters, bowls and vessels. Tungare is inspired by material innovators such as Seetal Solanki, Formafantasma, Superflux and Ilse Crawford (who taught Tungare during a semester at Design Academy Eindhoven). ‘I want my work to be meaningful, impactful and relevant,’ she says. ‘Not just to its users but also to the environment, as well as the society it is placed in. Maybe this is the naivety of a fresh-out-of-college designer, but I want to touch lives.’ sachitungare.com

Left, products from Tungare’s ‘Let’s (Not) Kick Butt’ collection, made from discarded cigarette butts that have been cleaned using ecological agents, then blended and cast into various forms, including pots, bowls and coasters