Born and raised in Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh, Radhesh Agrahari’s initiative, Golden Feathers, was born out of a classroom challenge. In 2011, whereas Radhesh was a pupil on the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design in Jaipur, he needed to create one thing new out of waste for a challenge. “I used to be away for 3 days in Agra, and once I returned, my classmates had chosen gadgets like plastic sanitary waste and thermocol, and so I needed to search for a distinct materials.”
Butchery waste, primarily feathers, is become fibre that may be made into stoles, shawls, mufflers and extra
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And that’s how he zeroed in on utilizing meals waste. “I had gone to a butchery to purchase rooster, and I noticed that when one orders 1.2 kilos of rooster, we get about 650 gms that can be utilized, and round 350 gms, that features the toes, neck and feathers, go to waste,” says the36-year-old who’s amongst India’s three finalists at R|Elan Round Design Problem (CDC).
Radhesh, alongside together with his companions from IICD — Muskan Sainik and Abhishek Verma — spent the following eight years researching. By 2019, they have been capable of convert butchery waste, primarily feathers, into fibre that may be made into stoles, shawls, mufflers and extra. The trio has additionally managed to make fish meals, manure, and handmade paper from the waste.
Organised by Reliance Industries’ R|Elan (an initiative geared toward selling sustainable and round style practices), in partnership with the United Nations in India and Lakmē Style Week, CDC’s finals shall be held at Lakmē Style Week x FDCI this October. Golden Feathers will compete with India finalists Crcle, Farak, and Maximilian Raynor (UK), Martina Boero (Cavia, EU), and Jesica Pullo (BIOTICO, Asia Pacific).
An embroidered stole
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At present, the workforce at Golden Feathers crafts shawls, unisex stoles, handmade paper, quilts, amongst different merchandise. For the CDC competitors, the duo offered their Earth and Sew assortment comprising stoles and mufflers constituted of feather wool. “These items have been hand embroidered and handwoven by girls belonging to the Bheel tribe in UP and Madhya Pradesh. The gathering makes use of colors like off white, boring pink, and child blue,” explains Radhesh, who will add crop tops, skirts, and so forth. to the gathering for the finale.
“We began out with 10 employees in 2019, and now, we have now 200. A few of them have been artisans, the others discovered the craft (weaving and creating thread) on the job,” Radhesh says. As for the method, Mayank explains how the butchery waste first will get sanitised utilizing a 27-step course of, and is thensegregated. Girls artisans use this to create thread utilizing moist spinning, and hand carting; which is then handwoven to create the material. The waste, Muskaan says, begins to decay after six hours, which is a small window wherein one can work on it. “However, if we use chemical compounds to sanitise it, the standard of the feathers will get affected,” Radhesh provides.
Artisans with their creations
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This innovation is what led them to successful the celebrated German Design Award for Glorious Product Design — Way of life & Style, in 2021, making them the primary Indian firm to win Gold within the class. In December 2024, Golden Feathers was one in all three winners for the Artha Affect Award and one in all 18 winners of Kula Innovate 2024 innovation problem.
“In New Delhi and the NCR area, on a median, near 2.24 crore kilos of rooster are consumed in a day, which generates at the very least 74 lakh kilos of waste. Which means that in a 12 months shut to three crore kilos of butchery waste from rooster is generated,” Radhesh says, “Butchery waste from different animals like buffaloes and goats normally will get used up: pores and skin for leather-based, organs for speciality meals and pet meals, and the bones for broth, he provides, quoting information shared by Meals Safety and Sustainable Agriculture Basis, a Delhi-based livestock analysis group.
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A snapshot of the moist spinning course of
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With Golden Feathers, Radhesh and his workforce have additionally managed to revive two weaving methods: moist hand spinning and moist hand carding. The workforce has additionally empowered over 200 girls belonging to the Bheel tribe, by using them of their manufacturing items in Jaipur, Pune, and Jhalawar in Rajasthan.
The following step for Radhesh is to determine a village that makes wood-free paper aka handmade paper. The custom of constructing handmade paper, he says, has been practised in India for hundreds of years. “But it surely modified when the British began ruling us. Lots of our arts and crafts have been misplaced,” he says, including how a number of varieties of weaving and handicrafts have change into extinct or out of date lately like vark print, patua portray, and mirror work.
A unisex muffler at Golden Feathers
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Radhesh additionally hopes that the Authorities will assist their work to determine a sustainable recycling mannequin, which can assist them divert the waste at a big scale. “Our imaginative and prescient is impact-driven,” he says, “We want to battle air pollution in all varieties, be it land, air or water.”
Revealed – August 11, 2025 03:42 pm IST
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