Raahul Khadaliya, Founder-The Second Life India

Like almost everything in life, sustainability is a non-binary concept, it is a spectrum. It has evolved over the last decade from being an alternative lifestyle choice to something that is the need of the hour. The more than an individual's lifestyle leans towards the better end of the sustainability spectrum, the better the future looks for the entire planet. Although a lot of sustainability is about the choices that consumers make, it is around markets that consumer behaviour revolves and hence businesses shoulder the responsibility of bringing the concept of sustainability in its most honest form for consumers to embrace. The Second Life is a brand that not just takes up but celebrates this responsibility.

It all started as a spark of innovation in 2010 that brought responsible waste management, design and traditional craft together to create products from discarded newspapers using block-printing techniques. Today, we have grown as a brand that has products across verticals such as accessories, stationery, lighting and gifting. We champion the practice of sustaining the livelihoods of traditional artisans in the contemporary context by helping them apply their priceless mastery over crafts to new-age materials such as up-cycled wood, up-cycled paper, tyre tubes, kitchen waste, etc. The resulting products are stunning and are mediums that tell stories of sustainability as a philosophy intertwined with everyday living.

“Even the simplest products such as our earphone holders take a lot of time and creative energy. From identifying and understanding the material, experimenting with it, using crafts as lenses to reinvent its functionality to finally holding the product in hand, it is a process that brings the product to life rather than just producing it. Human energy drives the process predominantly and this fuels a systemic shift towards sustainable employment and economics as well.”

Raahul Khadaliya, Founder