About Us
Aardra means new or fresh in Sanskrit. Now, it also means giving the much-loved newspaper a long overdue makeover. It’s about weaving used newspaper into products to carry around, take home, and hold precious memories.
At aardra, the aim is to upcycle newspaper. So it’s not turned into papier-mâché or pulp. Instead we make sure the newspaper can no longer absorb moisture, then roll and manoeuvre tubes of the paper into clever patterns of warps and wefts, before priming and finishing. What you get is a product that not only looks good and strong but can be immediately used.
aardra’s product line includes totes, market bags, sling bags, clutches, handy organiser boxes and trays, packing cases, jewellery chests, book racks, and magazine holders to name a few.
What’s unique about the products?
The choice of newspaper as the primary material. Let’s consider some of the existing alternatives. Comparable products made of plastic or rubber will have to be made from scratch and will eventually turn up as non-biodegradable waste. On the other hand, newspapers are easily available and in huge numbers. By upcycling, we would be eliminating an entire layer of landfills.
Why should someone buy it?
Because you’re not simply buying the product, you’re buying into a more sustainable and responsible lifestyle choice.
OUR STORY
The aardra ecosystem
aardra products are typically created using a two-stage process. The first part being drawing tubes using newspaper strips. The second part is weaving the tubes into functional products. Every stage requires skill and dexterity.
We found both attributes readily available in the elderly - it's one reason why our ecosystem heavily relies on their strengths and availability as our workforce. Our experience in working with them has also made us realize that they bring along an abundance of patience, perseverance and an irrepressible zest to contribute to the creative process. On their part, when they see the final product, they see a solid, tangible result that they have hand-woven and hand-made. We have witnessed the joy and triumph they feel as much as the tactile sensation that is created by working with their hands. We find that fills them with a sense of purpose, which is infectious. We could not ask for a more enthusiastic or energetic bunch of co-creators.
While the happiness of a hand-made product is arguable, we have found evidence and encouragement through research that indicates that working with hands can forge new neurological pathways in our brains. Such pathways are not possible in a less physically active environment.
Working with hands has been known to help people struggling with anxiety, depression, panic attacks or post-traumatic stress. Physical activities such as knitting or weaving can bring back much-needed focus, purposefulness, calm and satisfaction.
THE FOUNDER
A native of Bangalore, Vidya has worked for startups, and enjoyed corporate life at Wipro before turning to art, full-time. Her formal education has been in Engineering from RVCE and a Master’s degree in Marketing from Symbiosis.
Her first public presentation as an artist was through a series of paintings, which were transcreations of Hoysala temple architecture and monuments. She chose to celebrate the splendour of Hoysala sculptures by reconstructing their ruins in paint.
Her explorations in art continue strong. Discovering paper weaving, Vidya has been upcycling the humble daily newspaper for personal, lifestyle and interior décor purposes. Her line of newspaper woven products is called aardra, which means new or fresh in Sanskrit. Surprised at first by their wicker-like quality and strength, customers have come back asking for more.
As a Design Thinker from Stanford University, she developed new products that meet previously unidentified user needs, defined processes to enable her young and old workforce alike and found innovative ways to apply traditional weaving methods to the versatile newspaper.
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