MAYUR BHALAVI
DESIGNER | MAKER
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What happened to the demonetized currency notes?
In end 2016 was marked by a major event known as the demonetization of the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 currency notes. After that, all the banned notes were to be submitted back to the banks in exchange for the new currency notes. These banned currency notes were then given in the custody of the Reserve Bank of India across its various headquarters. Imagine the size of India and the scale of its population and you can imagine the number of banned notes that would have been collected back by the RBI.
Storing these currency notes became a problem and would need an enormous amount of space, space where these notes will be safe from misuse or theft. To tackle this problem, the RBI decided to destroy these currency notes by shredding them and giving them away to contractors for a very nominal price. An average of 150 tonnes of the currency notes is shredded every day since the demonetization. Since the composition of the currency note makes it difficult to recycle back into paper, it has thus become a humongous amount of waste RBI has to deal with.
As a way to deal with this, a design cahllege was initiated together by Kuster's Engineering (Netherlands) and NID Ahmedabad to invite ideas to bring this waste back into meaningful use. For this, I propose to design wallets out of the shreds in order to bring a story.
Shredded currency notes
SCF- Shredded Currency Fabric made with shreds, paper pulp and binder glues
Vallet
VALLET- Wallets made of Shredded Currency
I want to turn these shreds into Wallets and Purses. As a design concept, I propose to bring this waste back into use in a way which is meaningful (socially, environmentally (circular/non-linear) and business-wise) and which also has a memorable and pleasantly-surprising story to it.
Story
'Old currency to keep safe new currency'. It is a metaphorical representation of my philosophy- change happens for the good and should be welcomed. We should be constructively supportive towards any change instead of hopelessly criticising it for its drawbacks. A story adds to the innovativeness of the product which, as a Designer, I seek to bring out through my designs.
Meaningfulness- Environmental, Social and Commercial
The project brings into use a waste existing in tonnes of quantities with lots of nation worldwide, not just India.
Products made using the processed shredded currency will be environmentally sound i.e. non-hazardous/non-toxic in any form in case it enters the environment discarded or otherwise; recyclable so that it doesn’t lead to creation of more waste at the end of the product life-cycle; production process will be energy and resources efficiently without creating any negative environmental impact.
I want to make it socially meaningful by involving local wallet/bag makers or tailors in the design and manufacturing process of the products as a way to utilize their expertise, expose and update them with our design knowledge and eventually expand their business.