Shubhi Sachan on cotton, condoms and working with waste.

Shubhi Sachan is a multi-disciplinary designer and the founder of Material Library of India. The New Delhi-based library was the first of its type in India and acts as a research and design consultancy committed to unlocking the potential of industrial and agricultural waste – of which India, a country with a population of over 1.4 billion people, has plenty.

Over the years, MLI has worked with brands and organisations such as IKEA and the British Council, as well as presenting work and ideas across the globe, including at last year’s Material Matters London where it reimagined cotton as a climate-adaptive, culturally rich material.

In this episode Shubhi discusses: setting up MLI in 2017; why she decided to tackle waste in the first instance; India’s relationship with textiles and ‘waste colonialism’; the importance of the ‘rebirth’ of industrial materials; how natural materials can look after themselves; her recent project on cotton and why the crop needs to be re-thought; opening a thrift store where textiles are the currency; refusing to reject capitalism; curating seeds for IKEA; creating streetwear from rejected condoms; studying in England; becoming a successful surface designer; and why her family have questioned her career choices.

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