Made-from-poop art doesn't stink

Mahima Mehra has been carving cool craft out of paper made from elephant excreta for 15 years under her brand, Haathi Chaap. iTalk tells you why you should be grabbing that hand fan rather than twitching your nose

Don't twitch your nose; we are not on a pong song. A trip to a quaint workshop tucked away in the dusty bylanes of Okhla, Delhi, brought us face-to-face with Mahima Mehra, an unsung, unusual rainbow warrior. She has exemplified the best in best-of-waste management with her brand Haathi Chaap, but is far from interested in media hype. "No pictures, please," she requested, before we managed to persuade her. The Lady Shri Ram College for Women alumnus takes pride in converting elephant poo paper into cool maal. Clocks, journals, hand-fans, souvenirs and play-things like gulel and pitthoo crowd this crap-italist's world.u00a0

How in the world does working with potty paper give you jumbo-sized joy?
Even as a kid, I wanted to do my bit for the earth. It started out with handmade paper packaging services, then graduated to poop. The exports are a success; people appreciate and value the art, and villagers involved in the production process get their share of the moolah. That's enough to feel good about.u00a0u00a0u00a0

How do you make sure poo paper is hygienic?
The dung is donated by owners and farmers who live in Udaipur and Sanganer. It's first sieved, so that trash, pins, and wrappers are removed, and washed thoroughly. The fibre is kept immersed in a concentrated saline solution for a few days, where it gets disinfected and loses all odour. After that, it goes into a machine called the Hollander Beater, to be thrashed to fine pulp, and washed with a disinfectant again.u00a0

What happens next?
Once the beating is done with, the pulp is taken to cement or wooden vats filled with water, and mixed proportionately. A sieve-like mould lifts layers, creating sheets. These are then placed on a muslin cloth by applying gentle pressure onto the mould. This process continues till there is a heap of about 100 sheets.
The heap is then placed in a hydraulic press, and compressed to drain out as much water as possible. Next, it is dried on lines, in the shade. Lastly, it goes through calendaring, which involves inter-leaving a bunch of sheets with zinc-coated metal sheets and passing them back and forth between two rollers, so that they become smooth enough for dot matrix printing.

And the complete process takes place in Rajasthan?
Yes. The "pooper" needs to be processed fresh; we only craft the final products here in Delhi.

You are an army of how many craft creators?
About fifteen. Lifting and packaging needs strength, so they are all men, except me, of course. I can take care of the orders, managing and copywriting (the wall-hangings, art pieces and book covers have some whacky words thrown in). It's also a family business, so that's how the brainstorming happens. Sometimes, I rope in journalist friends to ideate.

How good are the sales of your products?
We've partnered with eco-friendly firms in Germany and the UK, and the exports are a hit. In India, customers like funkier stuff, so, we can afford to get more experimental. Funds from foreign associates keep pouring in, too.

To order, call Mahima on (0)9811312616 or log onto www.elephantpoopaper.com.
Her products are available across India and abroad.