A website carves out space for senior folk to share and sell their handmade, upcycled and organic products with customers across India
A handmade potli bag and upcycled bottles
Old and Chic in Bengaluru was founded in December 2021 on the idea that senior folks are cool, which also inspired the platform’s name. They sell handmade and upcycled products made by creators above the age of 60. For founder Lakshmy Ramakrishnan, its early beginnings took shape at home with creativity running through her family; her grandmother, CV Jayalakshmi, and mother, Radha Ramakrishnan, would often create vases, crochet mats and pillowcases. They were also the community’s go-to artists for gifting options or upcycling products or sentimental items in order to cherish them. Ramakrishnan also noticed that many other senior citizens in her grandmother’s retirement home would hand-make functional and beautiful objects for their grandchildren. The artist in her awoke to facilitate the joy of creating and sharing, she says, “I would see them making all these amazing things but no one knew about it. I had the urge to share it with the world.”
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Radha Ramakrishnan, Valli Natarajan, Shyamala Selvaraj and CV Jayalakshmi
And so, Ramakrishnan launched the platform’s website last month, taking the business from selling on-ground and at a local level to the online space that also offers pan-India shipping. Earlier, sales were restricted to friends in Coimbatore where the women are based. Ramakrishnan would also haul a few items back to Bengaluru for her colleagues and friends. However, this move was not meant for commercial expansion.
Lakshmy Ramakrishnan
This business is team-led where items are sold as they are made, ensuring an enjoyable creative process. Going digital also offered the creators — Valli Natarajan, Shyamala Selvaraj, Radha Ramakrishnan and Jayalakshmi — access to a new selling and sharing platform that would have otherwise been unavailable. Even their future plans are guided by an aim to build a sense of community, and to share handcrafted soaps, recycled furniture, bags, vases, embroidered and crocheted items and home décor with buyers across India.
Handmade soaps
Keeping an eye on sustainability, the founder shares, “We always make it a point to recycle and upcycle when it comes to packaging and making the products.” She tells us about her mother’s artistic inclination to upcycle and make something old into something new, practical and beautiful, adding, “Mom can make vases from anything including old lamps that you fix on the wall outside the house. Even used bottles have become the legs of a new table. So, whenever we see anything that can be used, we save it.” Trips to the carpenter for material and collecting packaging from other home-delivered parcels are the norm.
Table made from upcycled bottles and wood
A few of these ‘mom-made’ items are currently on sale on the website. Made with time, joy and experience, Ramakrishnan notes how customers are always in awe of the quality of their products. This relaxed and knowledgeable process of creation also ensures each product is stamped with its creator’s style so every item is unique and made with care.
A lamp gets upcycled into a vase
Our top four picks
>> Organic soap bars: We’re all for natural beauty products. This one is beetroot-scented, and comes in a pack of three.
>> Travel jewellery organiser: This cost-effective organiser goes straight to our shopping cart; packing jewellery will no more be a DIY hack.
>> Tissue box: We love the painted wood textures on this tissue box that’s recycled from an old jewellery box.
>> Tray table: Made from old bottles and upcycled wood, this tray table will add a bold accent to any room.
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