LuxeBook September -2021

BY RUHI GILDER Traditional crafts combine with contemporary designs “A n artist shapes tomorrow with his art and dissipates the negative energy because after a thick dark night, there is always a golden morning,” says Prakash Joshi, one of 4000 craftsmen working with Ellementry. Ayush Baid, the founder, credits the countless artisans that he is fortunate enough to work with as his daily inspiration. Giving a platform to artisans has always been the focus of this luxury home décor brand, launched in 2018. The USP of the brand is a fusion of traditional craft and contemporary sensibilities to create conversations around spectacular artisanal craftsmanship. Baid positions Ellementry “as the first Indian brand to establish a manufacturer to customer relationship.” In May 2021, the lifestyle home décor label even opened their eighth store in India in the city of Kochi, for which they received an overwhelmingly positive response. In a candid conversation with Baid, LuxeBook decodes the elements that make Ellementry tick, their approach to sustainability and everything in between. What is unique about Ellementry? Due to a direct relationship with our artisans, we have quality control in our hands, and our turnaround time of manufacturing products is also fast. We can have competitive pricing for our products and there is no dead inventory, as we don’t have to procure products in bulk from outside. What makes us unique is that we focus a lot on creating products that are often tagged as boring, and mundane into beautiful, useful items. A major concern associated with Indian handcrafted products is food safety. However, every material that goes into creating our products is entirely food safe. We follow strict international food safety regulatory standards. Our products are rigorously lab checked and tested extensively before being released in the consumer market. We use them daily at our homes, our workplaces and our Collab store in Bangalore. What are the sustainable practices at Ellementry? We work with sustainable materials like terracotta, papier-mache, glass and more. We’ve created an eco- mix material by combining waste generated from factories like marble dust, wooden dust and old textile with recycled newspapers and other sustainable materials. After experimenting with existing materials, our R&D department is now working on making products with cane/bamboo. Not just our products, even our packaging is eco-friendly. We use sturdy cotton bags at our stores that can be reused as a tote bag, or a shopping bag. Moreover, 70% of the power used in the Ellementry office and workshops comes from solar panels. The office premises consists of a greenhouse, and we practice rainwater harvesting as well. What are the CSR initiatives at Ellementry? During the pandemic, we distributed free ration to all our artisans and got them free vaccinations. We are in the process We find out why Ayush Baid’s Ellementry is a force to reckon with in the sustainable home décor industry HANDCRAFTED D É COR 42| L U X E B O O K | S E P T E MB E R 2 0 2 1 S E P T E MB E R 2 0 2 1 | L U X E B O O K |43