Oorjaa’s sustainable lights Illuminate Various Shades of Green

Jenny Pinto Wants More People to Conscious Support a movement towards circularity, a practice that aims to minimise waste and optimise the use of Resources. “All of us say, ‘oh, the fossil fuel companies or big corporates,’ but also the consumer has the power,” Says Jenny, Who Founded Oorjaa, A Bengaluru-Based Design Stodio Focused Lighting, back in 1998.

Raising Awareness about these things is the raison d’Être of oorjaa’s ingoing shades of green, a week-based festival focusing on design, dialogue and Self-new Hopes to make a biennale. From ‘Songs of Nature’, an immersive showcase of some of oorjaa’s lights inspired by the natural world, to workshops on paper and light making and panel discusations The sustainability space, shades of green focuses on natural preservation, indigenous communication engagement, Slow Living, Waste Management, Carbon Footprint, Regental Actions and Material IMPACT.

“I wanted it to be a festival that talked mainly about the circular economy… basically brings anyone even even involved in green design on a platform,” Says jenny.

The festivals also when the launch of the live lightly Regenative Design, Material Literacy and Mindful Consumption.

“The Journey with Oorjaa was a huge learning experience,” Jenny explains, adding that her decision to work with waste waste when her studio started live her toward Management and Sustainable Transport in Bengaluru. We currently need a more holistic approach to address the environmental problems, she believes, adding that we are already feeling the consortes of living

And it is up to us to change that trafficory, she says. “I’m hoping that the foundation can brings toge to bee

At the exhibition

In a small room, leading off an exhibition hall at Sabhal, where shades of green is being hand, a swarm of jellyfish-shaped lights gleam agest a luminescent aquamarine back. Look closer, and you will also see that ocean debris in the form of lost fishing nets has been woven into this collection of lights, titled Aurelia, which, like many pieces in the exhibitation, Ih Paper from Agricultural waste, in this case, banana fibre.

Many of the lights being exhibited are new designs | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Other Aquatic Lifeforms Have Inspired The ‘Songs of Nature’ Exhibition, Including a Light Made of Copper Wi and Banana Fibre Paper, which captains the etherehality of a lily pad, a lily pad Into Gleaming Leopard Sharks, Sea Urchins, STING RAYS and Sea Sponges. There are also pieces, which pay homage to terrestrial life – Gulmohar blooms, the corral tree, star anise pods and coconut flowers made from Made of An Eclectic Array of Materials, Including The Invasiv Lantana, Banana Fibre, Copper Wire, Varnish and Graphite Dust.

All these pieces are an attempt at material exploration, as radeesh sheetty, the founder of the purple turtles and beruru and berou and co-founder at oorjaa, puts it during a walkthroux. Radeesh, who joined oorjaa with gaurav raj, say this is the first time the studyo has collectively showcased many shows of these products in one space. “What you are seeing here is a culmination of design, which has been done over the last two and a half years or so.”

While some of these pieces have been taken to other exhibitions in Mumbai, Delhi, Dubai and Ahmedabad, this was the first time they were shown in Bengaluru. Also, some of the lights are new designs, “Including the big flower, inspired by the gulmohar, the clouds, and many designs in the main hall.”

Outcomes and more

At a panel discussion with various city-based ecopreneurs, titled ‘Sustaining a Sustainable Business’, Another Crucial Question was raised: How does one scale a sustainable business? It is challenging, concur radeesh and jenny, drawing from their own experience at oorjaa to further expand on this.

For starters, there is a considerable investment when it comes to maternal explocation, say Radeesh. “A lot of time gets invested in designs that do’t the light of day. People give realise how much work goes into the back end. huge cost to it. “

Additional, since the pieces are handmade, it takes time. “If Tomorrow, I have an order for 500 pieces to be delivered in a couple of months, I have to say no. Even the paper-making process… If we replace it with a Machine, we can do can do also do in an entrepreneur Day. But the output is very different, “He says.

Oorjaa, which sounds its raw materials from farmer, Tribals, Fisherpeople and NGOS, also beLieves in the concept of Wabi-Sabi, the Japanese Philosophy of Finding Beauty In IMPERFECECTION, Impermanence, and the natural cycle of growth and decay. “We want people to accept imperfections in a product. It requires a mindset shift,” Says Radeesh.

Some Pieces Pay Homage to Terrestrial Life

Jenny goes one step further, expanding on where this mindset shift needs to go beyond just the products on display. “A product like Oers is less than a drop in the Ocean in terms of environmental impact, but we try to use it as part of our awareness-building.”

In her view, it is also essential to change the way we look at business itself. “Scalability is a corporate, capitalist way of looking at things. We need to change the expectation and definition of it. Grow Too fast, she believes. “These are things that need to be thought through and redefined as we go along.”

Shades of Green is Being Held at Saabha Blr Till August 13