Going green with gift wrapping cloth, not paper

Even though it sounded unique at first, by using an innovative technique, she managed to go past even the popular block printing technique and use a screening method instead to design the garment. And with that, Fabwrap was born.

The Stella Maris graduate has since transformed her idea into a working model, that is designed to educate people on minimising paper wastage and add a touch of art to it. A specialist in Gond, the traditional Indian art style, Madhuri designs the fabric with intricate work as well as her other favourite subjects. 

“So much paper gets wasted when people receive gifts, and it is usually thrown away. There are very few who actually think about reusing it. But with fabric, people store it and use it to not just re-gift things, but also wrap other stuff in it, such as bottles, jewellery, clothes, pretty much anything. I’ll admit, it’s been a challenge making people understand that the concept of ‘fabric wrapping’ exist – in fact, it’s very popular in Japan – but here, I demonstrate it often to spread awareness,” said the 24-year-old.

The organic cotton for the fabric is sourced from Erode. “The fabric is unbleached, in its original state, and the cotton is from plants which are grown without pesticide,” Madhuri said.

Since coming up with the project eight months ago, Madhuri has been promoting the use of fabric over paper as a wrapping alternative all over social media, as well as local pop-up shows, markets and exhibitions. “It is, however, something people understand as a concept only when they witness it in person,” she said. But with sustainability being the key word for several eco-conscious people in Chennai today, she’s confident that soon, paper paste would reduce drastically.