Srinagar artisan turns grass waste into eco-friendly home decor

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Rooted in Kashmir's centuries-old craft tradition, paper mache has found a new material in the hands of a local artisan, who uses dried grass and weeds that are often treated as waste.

Simran, a woman artisan from Nowshera Zoonimar in Srinagar, has developed a craft she calls 'Grass Mache', using dried weeds and grasses, including those collected from Dal Lake.

She turns the material into a fibrous pulp, mixes it with recycled paper and shapes it into durable, stone-like pieces for home decor.

With around five years of experience in paper mache, Simran spent nearly two years working on the new technique. Her idea is to give the traditional craft an eco-friendly touch while also finding a use for unwanted vegetation.

Speaking about her work, Simran said she wants to take the new form of craft forward while building on her experience in traditional paper mache.

"I have five years of experience in paper mache, but for this unique and new concept, namely Grass Mache, I'm trying very hard to promote this art with a new eco-friendly twist," she said.

Simran first collects grass and weeds and leaves them to dry. She then processes the fibres into pulp, mixes them with recycled paper pulp and moulds the mixture into different products.

Some of the material comes from vegetation removed from Dal Lake.

For Simran, putting this discarded vegetation to use is also a way of highlighting the need to keep the lake and other water bodies clean.

Her work has also opened doors for women in a craft that has traditionally had more male artisans.

Simran has been teaching local women the Grass Mache technique free of cost, with the hope that they can later use the skill to earn a living.

Paper mache is one of Kashmir's best-known traditional crafts, known for its detailed designs and intricate handwork.

Simran's experiment retains the basic idea of the craft while changing the material used to make it.

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