“Banana fibre paper | Eucalyptus scented paper | Tea fibre paper | Lemon grass paper | Marbled paper | Moon-rock paper| Marigold paper | Elephant poop paper | Carrot leaf paper”
—— the wood free hand-made Paper Studio ——
“Wealth From Waste” a pledge with which the Vocational Training Centre was birthed in 1991.
The paramount Purpose
To recycle cut waste paper, cut cardboard and other paper stationery waste generated by the plantation offices of Tata Tea.”
—— VTC ——
Our Endeavour in 1991
To rehabilitate and generate a sustainable livelihood for the specially-abled young adults of Munnar and the youth graduating from DARE School, in continuation of the vision & mission of Srishti Trust.
We started with14 specially-abled young adults, training them in skills to make stationery paper products. We make notepads, diaries, envelopes, files, bill books known as challan books and ledgers which we supply to plantation offices as well as to independent businesses operating in Munnar. Our paper stationery making initiative was fulfilling our mission to create an atmosphere of self-respect and confidence amongst our special associates leading to a better lifestyle for them as individuals and as well as their families.
Office Stationery
We assemble ledgers, challans & folders for plantation offices, businesses in Munnar and companies across the country.
Brown Paper Bags
We make branded brown paper carry bags for Croma, Starbucks & other brands to sustain their sustainable and corporate social responsibility.
Notepads, school books & paper stationery
We make ruled and plain books for schools, soft cover notepads for offices. We print business cards, tags & paper stationery for office & personal use.
A few years on, and the success of the Vocational Training Centre, stroked the thought of new forays and innovation
into the products that were being created. Mrs. Ratna Krishnakumar, the Managing Trustee of Srishti Trust, felt that
“Only making stationery was becoming too monotonous and boring.
Living in such beautiful and natural surrounding more could be done”.
Hours of reading and referencing from books, umpteen experiments, numerous stodgy mushy lumps of something that couldn’t be called or used as paper — guided by a myriad of inspiring and prominent masters in the craft of hand-made paper making lead to the birth of
Athulya Paper Studio in 1999.
“Quilling Earrings | Flower Bookmarks | Gift boxes | Marbled Trays | Antique style Photo-Albums | Cotton paper bags | Jewellery Boxes ”
—— our hand-made paper crafts ——
Preserved flower craft.
Flowers & ferns are preserved on hand-made Tea-fibre paper to make greeting cards & table-mats. Marigold petals are added to wood-free cotton paper to create sheets for business cards, gift wrapping paper & gift bags.
Craft Jewellery.
Quilling earrings in the making.
Ancient Memory Craft.
An album for your cherished photo and a journal of memories. We’ve preserved the traditional album prototype with an addition of a customisable hand-painted Elephant poop Paper Cover.
Sustainability | ReCycling | Up-Cycling | Ethical Practices & Eco-friendly methods
#WealthFrom Waste
“The process of waste paper recycling involves mixing used old papers with water and starch, ground in a beater. Once the pulp is formed, it is strained through screens and a new recycled paper is made.”
We ethically and consciously make our hand-made wood-free paper boards by recycling used stationery and cardboard boxes collected from plantation offices & local businesses. We keep the pulp a bit thick as we make boards which are used for making boxes, files, trays & more. We use a Cylindrical mould machine & a heavy-duty beater to make wood-free paper from cotton rags with the used stationery & cardboard.
Tea Fibre Diaries | Elephant Dung Bahikata | Marbled Notepads | Conference tags with Elephant-dung paper | Marigold-paper Business cards | Banana Fibre table Lamps | Marbled Pocket Diaries”
—— our Wood-free hand-made Paper CraftStudio ——
“ I joined the Vocational Training Centre at Srishti in 1991 with Murugeswari. I started with simple tasks like making manila envelopes, letter pads, office files and other stationery for the estate offices. In a few years, we started making hand-made paper and creating products from them. I love binding books and ledgers so I continued to work in the stationery section of Athulya Paper Studio. I stitch and bind hand-made paper diaries as well. I met and fell in love with Daniel who also works in Athulya Paper Studio. We got married in 2016 and love to work together here.
Today I feel a sense of confidence in myself.…”
— Mariamma —
Closing on three decades now, our specially-abled young adults have been creating wood free recycled paper, wood free hand-made paper, stationery & a myriad of products experimented on and perfected through the years. The team works side-by-side creating beautifully crafted diaries made from Tea fibre paper & Elephant Dung. Some of the girls in the team are drawn particularly to dried and preserved cards, bookmarks & table-mats artistically placed on scented eucalyptus, lemon-grass, carrot leaves & delicate ferns. Trays, Jewellery Boxes, Gift Boxes in all sizes, folders, gift bags beautifully marbled and rolls of paper for customised use to print visiting cards, labels, tags or for personal art projects.
Some of the treasured new creations are Quilling earrings & Banana Fibre Table Lamps.
