The company’s primary objective is to promote the notion that a sustainable lifestyle is an individual’s responsibility and it starts from making small lifestyle changes. Their efforts are dedicated to promote a low-impact lifestyle and aims to eliminate the idea of waste by recycling the glass waste generated all around the nation.

Ekta Doctor, Founder, Wonky Works has previously worked in advertising and in 2010 after pursuing a glass art course in the UK she came back to India to set up her own glass making company. In the process of setting up her Glass Art Studio and acquiring high quality raw material, she started to explore the waste glass readily available.

Ekta says “Since the recycling and disposal of waste glass such as bottles, jars, window panes, medical vials, etc is not organised in most cities a lot of glass ends up in the landfill where it does not rot, decompose, erode or rust for millions of years. I was appalled at the lack or procedures for disposing of glass waste and studied waste disposal around me in general and of glass in particular. I started reading voraciously about the impact of our consumerism as a society on the environment and realised something needed doing! Our entire economy is based on a linear format of take – make – use – throw, which wastes resources, pollutes the environment, and creates a smokescreen of rosy consumerism. Compare this to the concept of a circular economy where waste is minimised, resources valued and the environment sustained.

WonkyWorks believes the best way for glass to be reused is upcycling. All our products are made from actual waste glass and upcycled in our very own studio in Vadodara, Gujarat. We have an all women team (Go Girl Power!) and our products are made by women, made for the environment. The heat needed to upcycle the waste glass is high, between 650˚C to 800˚C, but that’s still about 45% to 50% less than forming a glass product from scratch. The reduction in the consumption of fresh raw materials results in reduction of energy usage, air pollution, water usage, water pollution and even greenhouse gas emissions. Apart from this, we eliminate an entire tier of the recycling process that includes collecting, sorting, processing, breaking down, converting and finally manufacturing of the product.”

Wonky Works has skillfully managed to transform mundane waste bottles into an interesting and diverse collection of Upcycled Glassware, Jewellery, Furniture and Installations. Ekta and her team also combine their upcycled glass with Vintage and Found Objects to design spaces and architectural elements.

Working from their studio, the first floor of which is completely upcycled from old metal racking systems, windows and doors, the all-women team generally collect old things and follow the principles of the 5 R’s … Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle. They started ‘Fabulously Old Fridays’ a set of extremely informal and informative events rethinking the way people look at old objects and waste in this world which they feel is getting buried alive under the wasteful consumption of our societies. Hosted every Friday evening at The Wonky Studio visitors are encouraged to browse through some low-impact shopping in their Second Hand Shop, look at some of their making processes at the Open Studio or enjoy that free cup of tea of coffee while browsing through some old books for exchange and sale. You can talk to the team about their Waste Collection initiative or find out more about the Tool Library, Repair Cafe and even a Rent a Typewriter by hour.

Ekta Doctor says “Everywhere you look, there’s something that can be reused and in the future, we will be working on other waste materials like plastic, metal, tetra pack etc. We also intend to make consumers more conscious about what they discard and the value of waste.”

Wonky Works sells their products through their Studio Shop in Vadodara and their own online store. They cater to customised individual projects and pieces as well as bulk quantities for corporate requirements.