Keshsa D Vasant was looking at doing something eco-friendly with recycled paper. While researching about it, she found that there are a lot of chemicals in the papers.
So, Keshsa decided to look at other kinds of papers available in the market. She visited the Auroville Papers store – they have a huge collection of papers like mulberry paper, pineapple fibre paper, banana paper, etc. That got her intrigued into finding ways to create paper. While looking for manufacturers, she realised that nobody was making stationery out of banana stems. This led her to start the brand Ikksha that creates environmentally sustainable luxury stationery.
“It is based on the idea of going green and giving back to society by creating eco-friendly journals. Ikksha is my love for stationery, plant-based living, minimalistic designs and my strong Indian roots with a global touch. It was started to provide eco-friendly options to the stationery lover in us. We have created writing supplies from banana paper,” says Keshsa. She adds that anyone can be kind to the planet by simply making a switch to eco-friendly products without much effort at all.
Keshsa shares the reason why using banana paper is most beneficial for the environment. “The production of banana paper, when compared to wood paper, has minimal impact on the environment. It uses lesser energy in production and does not use processed chemicals, making banana paper live longer, biodegradable and recyclable. To complement the natural properties of the banana paper we are using natural dyes, soy ink, coconut button bookmarks and banana fibre fastener to make the collection flawlessly natural,” she adds.
