Look out! Here comes the Recycler-Man

Anand Prakash likes to create handmade paper and stationery using your favourite kitchen spices, cow dung and objects that would otherwise be junked

Anand Prakash likes to create handmade paper and stationery using your favourite kitchen spices, cow dung and objects that would otherwise be junked

Delhi-based paper and stationery designer Anand Prakash has been collecting trash for the last ten years. Before you brand him as a hoarder or even a scrap dealer, Anand collects odds and ends mostly to recycle them into his obsession -- handmade paper.

Ruler timepiece (Rs 1,995)u00a0- Sold by invitation only

"Almost 99% of the paper I use is recycled and handmade. I love the texture, colour and effort that goes into making handmade paper. For the last ten years I have collected a lot of trash so I could recycle it.
In our papermaking unit, we don't waste even an inch of paper," he shares with us.

The designer also entwines spices like cinnamon, cardamom, cumin and bay leaf with 100%
recycled cotton rags. Further, he processes cow dung to create paper under his brand Anand Prakash. On offer are travel, recipe and personal journals, pencils made out of old maps, cards, paper, bookmarks, clocks and jewellery.

MIX 'EM UP
Ask him about his quirky habit of combining paper with strange objects and he replies, "Paper as a medium has immense versatility and potential. Not only spices, I also work with tea leaves, coffee powder and newsprint to whip up an exciting range of handmade paper."
Anand's schooling years in Mussoorie and nature find resonance in his creations all the time. Whether it's a timepiece created out of wooden rulers or colourful slam books made from handmade paper or his range of cards that remind you of flowers and leaves pressed between pages of a notebook in school, Anand's range of stationery packages nostalgia through old world, sepia-tinted creations.

GOD IS IN THE DETAILS
Anand's attention to smaller details and simplicity sets his products apart from urban, edgy and stylised stationery that has flooded the market. "A majority of my journals come with bookmarks. For example, the travel journal has an intricately constructed compass as a bookmark while most of the gift bags come with tags attached with them. My work is simple, elegant, and earthy. I like to use new medium and material in my work; I also try to revive old techniques," he says.

A self-taught designer, Anand, who hails from Daltonganj in Jharkhand, credits his alma mater, Mussoorie's Wynberg Allen School for instilling the creative bug in him. The 33 year-old designer founded his brand ten years ago from scratch and taught himself the finer nuances of design from books and by trial and error. Anand can also customise a product that you have ordered from his blog, since production is in-house. Even better, he'll deliver anywhere in India.

At Anand stocks his creations at Temple Tree, Babulnath (23679762) and Nalanda Bookshop, Taj Shopping Arcade (22022514) call 0 9911886677
log on to www.anandprakash.comu00a0 email anandzcreation@gmail.com