1. How should we introduce you?
Founder and chief at The Burlap People
The Burlap People started as a passion project with a wish to build a community around a conscious and sustainable lifestyle. I also love traveling and got to travel extensively as a kid from the age of 14 to 18 playing on the national and international Junior Tennis Circuit . Karuna, my co-founder, is a writer and also shares the love for story-telling, traveling and the vision for a company with a community focus.
The Burlap is the embodiment of this shared love for backyard-grown, home-cooked food, for yoga and travel, stories and music. To that end, we host small events (and workshops)with acoustic music, yoga, food and art to promote local artists, chefs, yogis and bands under Sounds like Burlap. Sounds like Burlap is a start to what we imagine would become an interactive space for the community to engage and share their passion for all of the above.
Coming from a family that has been running a business in jute for decades and the first to start screen printing on jute and export the consequent value-added bags, I had a natural exposure to Jute aka Burlap bags. And burlap being both organic and compostable, it became our choice of medium. Since the conventional jute bags were mass produced and cost-conscious, we explored and developed a version that was not just utility driven but also aesthetic.
A movie that greatly influenced my perspective has been Into the Wild. Its message that happiness is only real when shared resonates deeply.
Another great influence would be the Documentary series Cosmos, both Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey and its sequel Cosmos: Possible Worlds. It is a source of to a lot of knowledge and information that I believe every kid should get access to.
Fantastic Fungi on Netflix was a great insight into the plant kingdom especially mushrooms, which surprisingly have an intense root system underground. A great metaphor for how seemingly simple things can have deep hidden story or technicalities.
4. What purchase of Rs. 5,000/- or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)? OR
What is the best or most worthwhile investment you’ve ever made? Could be investment of money, time, energy, etc
Buying plants and investing into the rejuvenating of the soil at our workspace. Learning about plants and growing my food the last couple of years has been the most worthwhile investment.
No, not yet. At the moment, my role also includes managing the everyday operations which makes it difficult to go completely off grid but eventually, would want to do it.
6. Are there any quotes you think of often, or live your life by?
Grow your own food, save the soil!
Just looking around us, at the life around us with empathy and compassion will open our eyes to what needs to be done.
7. What obsessions do you explore in the evenings or the weekends?
Chillies. Chillies were introduced in India by the Portugese. Because of monoculture, soil and weather conditions, we experience only a handful in India of the hundreds available globally. I am exploring and trying to grow the other many varieties with the aim to expand the flavor profile in the subcontinent.
Along with this I am also learning about Permaculture
8. What would you (if you could) tell yourself when you were 18? What advice would you ask your younger self to ignore?
To be conscious of how to treat people and be responsible with relationships.
Economies of scale. Products made in large quantities would be cheaper.
While it is seemingly true, it doesn’t take into account the hidden costs of the unsustainable practices like material wastage and disposal burdens on the environment.
10. When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do? (If it helps, what question do you ask yourself to get you back on track?)
Yoga or exercise to feel grounded and positive. I also love to cook.
11. So burlap does customisation for its patrons that it sometimes also includes in its collection. Did you get any custom made for you? What were you looking for?
All the time. Infact, all the sample pieces are customized for either Karuna or me.
Recently, I got a backpack customized for a trek with compartments for a bottle, yoga mat, a book, etc. The strap was from a fabric I got from another of my earlier travels. The bag also has paw prints for my dog.