From Medicine Packaging to Furniture: How 3 Friends Gave 500 Kg of Waste a New Use

Three friends transformed materials normally headed for landfills into intricate fabric for furniture. Their collection used discarded tablet packaging, plastic wraps, textile scraps, and other industrial leftovers. This matters because it gives unwanted materials a new purpose instead of treating them only as rubbish.

The fabric was made through a collaboration between Daera and Cancelled Plans. Traditional embroiderers around Hyderabad’s Charminar, handloom weavers, and textile workers in Pochampalli helped work the materials into detailed surfaces. The resulting fabrics were designed for upholstery and became part of furniture and lighting pieces.

The collection included lounge chairs, warp chairs, shuttle benches, chandeliers, pod lights, and oracle mirrors. By July 2023, the designers reported preventing 500 kg of waste from entering landfills. The collection was sold across India, showing how discarded materials can enter ordinary homes through thoughtful design.

Upcycling means creatively reusing discarded materials to make a new product, often with greater practical or design value. It keeps the material in use and can avoid the need to treat it as rubbish. In this story, waste became fabric and furniture instead of entering a landfill.

Recycling usually processes waste into raw material that can be used again. Upcycling may involve cutting, combining, weaving, embroidering, or redesigning the original items without reducing them to basic material first. Throwing waste away does none of this. It removes the material from use and sends it toward disposal.

The Daera X Cancelled Plans collection demonstrates upcycling through design. Tablet packaging, plastic wraps, and textile scraps were incorporated into intricate fabrics. Those fabrics were then used for furniture and other products. The approach connects waste reduction with craftsmanship, function, and visual appeal.

The trio sourced non-hazardous industrial waste from Delhi and Hyderabad. Their materials came from several parts of the pharmaceutical and manufacturing process. This gave the designers a varied supply of discarded pieces for developing textures, patterns, and surfaces.

The industrial waste included tablet packaging, plastic wraps, shredded bits from tablet-cutting machines, and empty containers. They also gathered textile scraps and leftovers from billboard printing. These materials were not described as hazardous, which allowed the collaborators to work with them for design purposes.

The variety shaped the collection’s visual and tactile character. Mallika Reddy had learned about pharmaceutical-industry waste through earlier work with a pharmaceutical company. She then helped source materials for Cancelled Plans and the collaboration. The friends combined these industrial leftovers with textile expertise to create fabrics for furniture and related products.

The discarded materials were not simply placed onto furniture. They were developed into intricate fabrics through a design and craft process. This mattered because the waste became a usable surface with texture, pattern, colour, and a clear role in finished products.

Traditional embroiderers around Hyderabad’s Charminar, handloom weavers, and textile workers in Pochampalli worked with the trio. Mallika Reddy oversaw textures, patterns, and fabric-making. Jannat Gill and Sharon Sethi focused on colours and silhouettes, as well as the stories behind the designs. Together, they shaped the materials into upholstery fabrics.

The fabrics were used for furniture and other objects in the Daera X Cancelled Plans collection. Products included lounge chairs, warp chairs, shuttle benches, chandeliers, pod lights, and oracle mirrors. Inspired by Germany’s Bauhaus movement, the collection used minimal silhouettes, subtle colours, and functional designs.

Sharon Sethi and Jannat Gill were friends whose shared interest in fashion, design, and interiors led to Daera, a Delhi-based interior and product design studio. They first met through Jannat’s wedding in 2015 and established Daera in 2018 after exploring home decor.

Architect Mallika Reddy joined their story after meeting the pair at another wedding in Thailand in 2019. She had founded Cancelled Plans in 2018 to create fabrics from discarded materials. Her earlier work with a pharmaceutical company had also made her aware of the industry’s waste problem.

In the collaboration, Mallika oversaw textures, patterns, and the fabric-making process. Jannat and Sharon worked on colours and silhouettes, including the story behind each design. Together, they created the Daera X Cancelled Plans collection, combining industrial waste, textile craft, and furniture design.

The designers reported preventing 500 kg of waste from entering landfills by repurposing it. That figure represents the combined discarded materials used in their products, including industrial packaging, plastic, and textile leftovers. It shows the collection’s scale beyond a single experimental object.

The waste was transformed into intricate fabrics through the work of traditional embroiderers, handloom weavers, and textile workers. Those fabrics were suitable for upholstery and became part of a broader collection. The designers used minimal silhouettes, subtle colours, and functional forms inspired by Germany’s Bauhaus movement.

The products included lounge chairs, warp chairs, shuttle benches, chandeliers, pod lights, and oracle mirrors. By July 2023, the Daera X Cancelled Plans collection was sold across India. Its presence in homes demonstrated how repurposed materials could become designed, functional objects rather than landfill waste.

Turning discarded materials into products matters because it challenges the idea that waste has no further purpose. Instead of sending useful material toward landfills, the designers kept it in circulation. The approach also connected environmental aims with attractive, functional design.

The collection used tablet packaging, plastic wraps, textile scraps, and other leftovers to make upholstery fabric. Traditional embroiderers, handloom weavers, and textile workers helped shape these materials. Furniture and lighting pieces then carried the material into homes, extending its useful life through a new form.

This reflects circular-economy principles because materials move back into production rather than following a one-way path from manufacture to disposal. The article reports that 500 kg was kept out of landfills. It also shows a model in which designers, craftspeople, and users become part of a continuing material cycle.

The clearest environmental consequence was landfill reduction. The designers reported that 500 kg of industrial and textile waste was prevented from entering landfills. Materials such as tablet packaging, plastic wraps, and textile scraps were instead used in a product collection.

The social consequence described in the article was collaboration with skilled craft workers. Traditional embroiderers around Hyderabad’s Charminar, handloom weavers, and textile workers in Pochampalli helped transform the discarded materials. Their work made the fabrics intricate and usable for furniture, connecting industrial waste with established textile practices.

The result was a collection sold across India, including chairs, benches, chandeliers, pod lights, and mirrors. The article does not quantify jobs, income, or other wider social effects. It does show that the project brought artisans and textile workers into a design process that gave discarded materials a new place in homes.