Changing the Ways in Which we Work

Tracing New Trajectories in Fashion

Cultivating change and correcting large scale issues at the systemic level in the fashion industry is often thought to hold more power and potential to make a real difference in how the fashion system works. While this may be a truth true in its own right, we want to share with you how we’re inspired by our brand Em and Shi and their founder Mansi Bhatia about the qualitative change working differently and more mindfully can bring to a brand’s artisans, people and the environment – making change just as potent at the micro level as at the macro.

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What does a fashion revolution mean for you? What are the ways in which it has taken shape through your brand?

For us, the revolution would kind of mean in the smaller steps because, if you talk about things at large or if we really require things to change, they kind of have to change at a much more macro level, such as in terms of regulations and certifications. For us at Em and Shi, what it means is to do the best for everyone. To create our processes in a way where it is the most sustainable, and by sustainable I mean, it’s good for the people who are working for us, it’s good for the people who are gonna be wearing the garment, it’s good for everyone involved at every stage. Often when we try to achieve that sort of perfection in terms of what we’re trying to do. It’s like, if today I was supposed to shut everybody who’s working in fast fashion, we would have so many unemployed people and they would in turn, go somewhere else, you know? So I feel like a revolution kind of has to come from smaller steps. And what we do is to kind of make our processes easier on everybody, including the environment and the people whom we can take care of on our level.

I think I learnt that only because when I started, I came in with this whole revolutionary mindset to “do this and do that.” And what I found is that most of it is not possible because either it would be beyond our means as a growing business or it wouldn’t make sense for the people who are working for you. So when we came in, we kind of wanted this sort of approach where everything is super systematic, but what I’ve realized and found helpful is that we mold our structure according to the people that are working for our brand – to kind of change what we are doing to suit them more.

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Does it feel like it has made a difference for your artisans and team, and for the brand?

I believe so, yes, because we still have the same people that started working with us from the beginning. Our pattern making hasn’t changed at all. Not even one of them has left or gone away. The fact that they haven’t felt like they need to step out and look for anything else, or even when they are trying to voice their voice, or if there’s anything that’s not working for our and their system – a few minor things obviously – they come to us and we accommodate that. And we really want to.

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Could you share with us an instance where molding your ways of working to suit the needs of the artisans hold an impact on their everyday life, and consequently, beyond?

In the villages and spaces, anywhere where the women are working, their kids are hanging out in that area and they are often playing there too. Sometimes if they feel like blocking a piece of cloth, they are blocking it as well. I can’t stop it. The children are by no means involved in the production process, but rarely if they want to do it for play, I don’t discourage it. At the same time that’s their community. That’s literally the name of their community. They’re “printers”. We too have gotten a little more comfortable with them doing it as a community and not having to hide the fact that their children also hang out at their workplace. This is the reality, and we don’t have to modify it to show a different picture to someone, for the very reason that this is the way they work and people need to understand it. It also helps them to have their children around as there’s no one to take care of or be with them at home, and they are too young to be alone.

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Creating Honest Change Through our Individual Paths

Why Being Who We Are Matters

Our sustainable brand Ahmev started out in 2019, unaware of the pandemic that was to strike us all. Finding their ground in the midst of uncountable challenges, they’ve carved a unique place for themselves as an ethical fashion brand in the last couple of years. We, at IKKIVI, spoke with co-founders Kanchan Sharma and Manish Garg about what revolutionizing the fashion system looks like, issues that small ‘sustainable’ brands face, why standing our ground and following our hearts matters, why they work the way they do, and the many things they are exploring.

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What does a fashion revolution mean to you?

Kanchan: The fashion industry has played a major role in impacting the environment. In the world of fashion, everyone has done their part – they’ve shown the different meanings and definitions of sustainability and slow fashion. We have too. We recycle and make different things from scraps as well as waste material. However, an important part of what a fashion revolution means to me is showcasing Indian heritage and supporting different artisans by being personally involved in each part of the process. Whenever I create a collection, I personally involve myself by connecting deeply with the inspiration of every collection, working with organic fabrics, supporting women and karigars, and amalgamating modern and Indian sensibilities together. This makes a big difference for us, and being able to now have an international presence is a milestone for us. We only aim to go upward and impact more lives through our work.

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What is a challenge that you see conscious fashion brands are likely to experience over the next decade?

Kanchan: People have attached sustainability with restrictions too. Nearly everyone requires certifications that are expensive and processes that are long, and are not clearly marked or very straightforward. We ourselves have had to change our terminologies and how we speak about a fabric because they are patented. An example of this is khadi.

Manish: For small businesses that are actually sustainable and committed to doing more, this presents quite an issue right now, as this is not a one off case for when you are establishing your brand’s name and its credibility. Whenever you want to apply for B2B or competitions, certifications have become a preliminary requirement. Each country has their own certifications, and they don’t always connect across the world as there aren’t always standardized guidelines. We think this is a large challenge that we expect conscious businesses will continue to face in the coming years and will have to find ways to overcome.

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How has the last year been for Ahmev as a brand?

Kanchan: We started Ahmev in 2019, and I was never a dreamer. Manish pushed me to pursue my dreams and showed me what I can do, and having worked on them consistently, we are glad that the last year has been a very successful one for us. I have enjoyed the process – working with the karigars and my business partners Manish and Anchal. Our karigars are growing, and with them, our brand. We’ve been partaking in the making of each garment ourselves, and being involved in the small everyday practices has been so therapeutic. That’s really been the beauty of our enterprise being a start up.

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The color white has been so important to you and to your brand Ahmev. How has your relationship with the color developed in these years, and how do you feel about adding other colors to your collections?

Kanchan: I still face the issue of people asking me to make the same design in a different color. Even Manish used to suggest that we should make our garments in other colors if there is a demand for it. But people have come to accept it, and so has our team, as this is our brand’s USP. I have never used color, and I have even been afraid of them. Over time, I have been coming to understand color a little more and really worked on it with this new collection. But white is still our trademark, and we want to see that forward.

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We’d love to know of some of the new things you’ve been doing at Ahmev

Kanchan: We’ve been doing more capsule collections as our customers enjoy them a lot. We’ve also been experimenting with menswear and doing trials on Manish!

Manish: I too have been exploring myself more through this, and hand painting some of our clothes with Anchal and Kanchan. In fact, I think I’m now becoming quicker at it than them!

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The IKKIVI Pop Up

Bangalore Diaries

Two years since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, we held a pop up in mid March in Bangalore, India. A sweet, socially distanced event that was all about celebrating and having fun with sustainable and vintage fashion, we loved spending time with our customers and friends in person after such a long time.

While we have consciously chosen to have our shop online to ensure that we make our clothes to order as much as possible, prevent overstock and minimize wastage, we had some starkly pleasurable moments when we set up shop that have certainly inspired us to have pop ups more often!

1. The tactility of a garment creates an unparalleled connection

Meeting people and seeing them feel excitement and wonder through touching, holding and trying a garment as a truly unparalleled experience was heartwarming and telling of how phenomenological our relationship with clothing is really designed to be. The comforts of shopping for sustainable fashion online, though equally undeniable, do still hide from us the immediate, felt emotions that arise upon sensing and feeling the softness of a fabric, running our fingers through the stitches of a fold, imagining where and how we would don this style, understanding the differences between ‘fit’ and ‘size’ with each style, and feeling clarity and surety in investing in a product.

2. The experience of our community

It was so delightful to meet people from all walks of life, talk about clothing and homeware, share with each other our learnings and challenges within sustainability, know what we are all up to, and truly enjoy the beauty and playfulness of fashion together through the days. This sense of community inspired and rejuvenated us all alike to keep with our commitment to living consciously and making a change in the fashion industry.

3. The joy of discovery

One of the most valuable things we saw people find joy in, was experiencing the wide-ranging independent sustainable Indian brands that are innovating with different tools and resources, and uniquely blending traditional fabrics, techniques and modern styling to design contemporary silhouettes. Getting an insight into our homegrown clothing brands Artisan Luxe and Doodlage, jewellery and accessories brands such as Roma Narsinghani, STEM, and Carte Blanche, and tableware brand The Burrow, along with many others, allowed everyone to not just shop if they needed to, but explore freely and build on the idea of cultivating a conscious wardrobe and lifestyle.

As the central and state restrictions on holding public events get further relaxed now, we’ll be having a lot more pop ups through the year and would love to see you at them. To know more about when and where our next pop up will be, please follow our Instagram page. And ofcourse, you can always shop our mindfully curated collections online whenever you like.

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Fashion Revolution Week

How You Can Be Part of the Movement

The catastrophic collapse of the Rana Plaza Factory (24th April, 2013) in Bangladesh that killed over 1130 garment workers manufacturing clothing for several major fashion brands has revealed the vast complexities that have prevailed in the fashion system for over half a century, and has become a caveat for the fashion industry in the last few years to take measures towards the betterment of the working conditions of its people and within their factories. The industry’s complex value chain and systemic inequalities compel us all to be(come) vitally involved now in reforming its structural practices and building awareness about sustainable and ethical fashion – both as producers and consumers.

As the industry is starting to change slowly, this Fashion Revolution Week, a time where brands and producers are urged to give consumers an insight into their production processes – what goes on behind the scenes at their brand – we’d like to share with you how you can be part of the revolution with us.

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1. Do research on the brands you (want to) shop from and asking them questions

In order for us to be able to make conscious choices when shopping, it’s important to understand the processes of production and supply chain through which our garments or products are being made. Asking the brand questions about how the products were designed (whether they were handcrafted or mass produced), what kind of materials were used in their make (were they organic or include chemicals, vegan or utilized animal products/ residues), where they were manufactured (locally or globally), what kind of techniques their design processes included, the amount of waste generated, minimized and reutilized in their creation, the number of hours it takes to produce one product, the working conditions of their artisans and fair pay are some of the most direct and immediate ways in which we can inquire about what went into the making of their goods and services, and prevent us from being influenced by greenwashing. It’s okay if you may have previously purchased from a brand that you love without knowing about their methods of production, learning about them today is still valuable, as, in the long run it will help to make more informed decisions.

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2. Use the #whomademyclothes hashtag on social media

The #whomademyclothes hashtag has come about as a way to encourage people to ask brands where their clothes come from, who makes them, under what kind of working conditions and pay. One way you can partake in this is by taking a photo of your brand’s label during Fashion Revolution Week, and asking the brand #whomademyclothes? by sharing it and tagging the brand in your post on Instagram or Twitter. Many brands may not respond to the question or share only limited information about it, but brands that are genuinely aware and involved with the people who work with them are likely to show transparency of their processes. If a brand doesn’t respond, we encourage you to keep asking them and exercising your consumer rights.

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3. Learn about the impact of fast fashion

The social, economic and environmental effect of fast fashion is nearly irreversibly damaging for both our environment and people. More than 60% of clothes are made of synthetic materials derived from petrochemicals that do not decompose, but instead break down into smaller and smaller particles called microfibers and microplastics. Discarded clothing made of synthetic fibers now sits in landfills for 200 years. 97% of fast fashion is produced in developing countries with poor labor laws, human rights protections, forced and child labor under dangerous working conditions and abuse and unlivable wages. While knowing about such injustices and labyrinthine difficulties that surround the fashion system can feel discouraging and induce in us feelings of anger, guilt and shame, we hope that knowing the realities of these situations can strengthen your resolution to consume and create differently, and shift consciousness by learning about the workings of fast fashion more frequently.

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4. Understand the scope of slow fashion and climate consciousness

It can be difficult for brands to start out 100% sustainable in all their practices. But a label’s openness to evolve with time is a characteristic that is bringing on a lot of innovation and advancement in sustainable practices. Learning about how certain slow fashion brands are innovating and challenging themselves to do better with each collection can inspire our curiosity and build trust in participating and supporting a fashion revolution at the micro, everyday level. For example, our sustainable brand ‘Doodlage’ wields scrap waste and recycled materials, ‘SUI’ uses organic fabrics made from hemp, and ‘Mishe’ employs orange peel fabric to create novel designs – all of which are taking them – and us – a step further in understanding sustainable production and studying the influences of diverse materials on the natural world. At the same time, following the work of world leaders, climate activists, organizations and policy makers can educate us on the agency and power we hold at a collective level and how we can initiate action and change, as both individuals and businesses.

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5. Cultivate awareness with friends and family

Nothing makes being involved in creating change as fun as having trivia games, movie nights, book clubs and conversations with our loved ones! Coming together and thinking about the ways in which we can create a community around the subject, engage with it meaningfully, build a more conscious wardrobe and allow each other to learn a little more than we knew a day before goes a long way in making a real difference.

Sustainability and fashion revolution as a movement and practice, will always keep building and challenging us to be better – and with it, our methods. In our ideal to make fashion 100% sustainable and slow, together, as a community, we believe it is of key value to keep our eye on progress over perfection, and do as much as we can, when we can. Every step counts. Every decision makes a difference.

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CARVING a Path Toward a More Just Future

Carving a Path Toward a More Just Future

What We Can Do Today Amidst the Climate Crisis

Capitalism and colonialism underpin a large array of contemporary social issues, and now, as climate reformers and researchers are showing us, they are one of the leading systemic causes aggravating the challenges we face with climate change. At IKKIVI Zine, we had a conversation with climate justice activist Lauren MacDonald on our present failures and struggles in contributing to climate justice, what being hopeful in the midst of crisis can look like, and why she thinks we need to move from taking individual action to collective action to make a greater difference to the movement.

_{Alexander Hoyles: shot for @greatergovanhill magazine by @alexander_hoyles}

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1. What were some of your early experiences in understanding climate injustice?

When I was 17, I encountered veganism for the first time. I quickly decided to go vegan after learning about animal, environmental and human rights abuses in the animal agriculture industry. From there, I began to develop a wider understanding of social justice issues and how they intersect with each other.

After developing this understanding for around a year I became an organizer for Glasgow’s Fridays For Future climate strikes in early 2019. I have been heavily involved in the climate justice movement since.

2. Could you tell us about some of the neighboring issues that climate (in)justice intersects with, and how?

All societal struggles are linked and have the same underlying causes: capitalism and colonialism. We need to abolish the systems of oppression that we currently exist under and create a fair world in which all life is cared for and protected equitably. To achieve climate justice, we must have justice for everyone. We need total liberation for humans, non-human animals and the planet.

Alice Aedy (instagram: @aliceaedy)

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3. What do you think are some of our most critical failures or challenges as a public in understanding the climate crisis?

Whilst the public, at least in the UK, generally care about climate change, most don’t understand the severity of the climate crisis and what we actually need to do to mitigate its effects. In my opinion, the climate justice movement should focus more on disseminating information about the climate crisis and social justice issues in an accessible way. There are so many people who are concerned about the climate crisis — they often just don’t have the resources and preparation they need to take collective action.

Generally, we need to focus so much more on onboarding people into social justice movements. As the climate crisis gets more and more out of control, we are seeing a substantial rise in the number of people willing to take action to safeguard the earth. Those who are experienced in climate justice organizing need to be ready to meet these people with the information and training they need to build confidence as an agent of change.

_{Will Gibson (Instagram: @williamgibsongla)}

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4. In the midst of so many tensions, how can we work for a sustainable and equitable future without losing hope?

Due to how unfathomably catastrophic and heartbreaking the climate crisis is, the default mindset in our campaigning is that we are going to lose. It certainly doesn’t come naturally to me to be hopeful; no wonder we struggle to imagine a better world when the society that we live in is so different from the one we want to see. I get out of bed every day having a deep understanding of the impending collapse of nature, and that can be really, really hard.

It affects every facet of my life.

But to feel hope, we don’t need to feel positive about the climate crisis and the situation we are in right now. I see hope as something I am actively building upon every day. I still struggle, but I actually find that by encouraging myself to feel hopeful about my own ability to create change, it took me out of a massive phase of burn out and gave me back my ability to act. This allowed me to actually envisage winning the Stop Cambo campaign and encourage others to do the same. Now, the Cambo oil field is paused indefinitely.

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5. What can we say to someone who doesn’t believe in climate change?

The climate crisis is an indisputable truth. To say that the climate crisis does not exist is to deny the experiences of millions who are already suffering extremely severe impacts. Pollution, extreme heat, and weather-related disasters are already claiming so many lives.

6. What are some ideas or concepts that you see people often get wrong about climate activism?

People often think that to be a climate activist, you have to be willing to do a small selection of roles: in my experience, people think of public speaking and getting arrested. In reality, the climate justice movement needs everyone. We need researchers, mental health professionals, drivers, artists, photographers and videographers, lawyers, action planners, spokespeople, media liaisons, and the list goes on. The point is, there are so many roles that go towards change-making. Everyone has something to add to the table.

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7. If there’s one thing that you think we can all start doing today to help protect the environment, what would that be?

In my opinion, the best thing someone can do to take action on climate change is get involved in climate campaigning.

Whilst individual change can be incredibly empowering, we need to go beyond this individualistic lens and consider collective action. We need to completely restructure society, and to do that, we need to work together on issues much more complex than just altering our daily consumption. Being in coalition with other people who care about the climate crisis and teaming up to fight for a specific aim is one of the most empowering things I have ever experienced!

8. What is something you’d like to communicate to our audience which you feel doesn’t get talked about enough?

I’d like to add a youth perspective to why the climate movement is dominated by young people. The youth are, I would say, inclined to be more ambitious about the fight for climate justice. I had a conversation with an MP during COP where they said to me and my friends that decarbonising the UK in time to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees was impossible. At first, hearing someone

who has been in the UK’s political system for decades tell us that decarbonisation was impossible made us feel extremely deflated. But in reflecting on this, I realized that as youth, we don’t have the privilege of believing that what we need to achieve is impossible. We are the ones who will live through that breakdown for the largest proportion of our lives. Our whole futures are at stake, compared to someone who has already lived over half their life in terms of life expectancy. Similarly, people in the most-affected areas do not have the privilege of believing that we do not have the power to achieve climate justice, because if that were the case, this means certain obliteration of their land and untold suffering for their people.

If you’d like to know more about Lauren’s work, you can visit her website.

. . . . . . |Alice Aedy (@aliceaedy)

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21 Things We Learnt in 2021

The Gems That Guided Us In The Year That Was

Each year carries many new beginnings and learnings for us, and this time we wanted to pen and share ours from the last year with you. Here are 21 things we learnt in 2021, and are taking forward with us in 2022!

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1. Shadow work

A practice of healing and self-growth that has helped us unwrap the parts of ourselves that we unconsciously repress or hide from ourselves.

2. Communicating who we are through our art and design

Working on our typography, visual layout and experimenting with different niches to express to you what we are doing and where we are heading

3. Following a personalized routine

The rhythm of doing things with consistency in ways that suit us individually has been grounding and exciting

4. The effect that energy has on us

Understanding how our body and mind responds to another’s energy and the impact it has on us, as well as others, has brought forth powerful change in how we conduct ourselves with everyone.

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5. Balancing spending time with ourselves and socializing with our loved ones

It’s taken us quite a few months to nail this one and arrive at a place of peace and joy with it.

6. Including more healthy foods into our diet

Addition, subtraction; subtraction, addition has been the key for us.

7. Produce a podcast

We learnt how to prepare, record, edit and publish a successful podcast series from scratch and had so much fun in the process

8. Move from a place of personal authenticity

We’ve continually dedicated time to understanding ourselves more and be guided to follow what feels authentic to us

9. That we love listening to audio books, sometimes over reading

They make us feel like the speaker is personally involved in what they’re talking about and offer more ease with their work

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10. Stay calm and problem solve under stress

Keeping our head down and solving different challenges calmly in high crises situations has been a revelation

11. Open up with new people

A little uncomfortable to begin with, engaging with new people freely has shown itself to be a delight.

12. The power of repetition

Mindfully doing things over and over has taught us how capable we are of mastering skills

13. Slow work

Throughout the year we fine-tuned practices that would allow us to work slowly and have fun doing it.

14. Trying things outside our comfort zone can be both safe and fun

We made a whole list with this one and followed it to the end to notice that there’s so much we enjoy about the things we are often hesitant to try before.

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15. The value of filing and organizing our work documents

Simplifying, editing, cleaning, organizing, recategorizing, optimizing on a bi-weekly basis make things dramatically easy to navigate through

16. To practice interdependence

Asking for help as well as doing things collaboratively with others is as much a joy as doing everything independently.

17. To improvise or moving with spontaneity

Moving with our natural urges and creativity when they come up, even if they don’t coincide with our elaborately planned schedules.

18. To trust our driving skills more

Passing through the narrow roads of Bangalore everyday amidst the thickest traffic has given us more confidence in taking the wheel.

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19. Use a planner (more) effectively

Whatever the templates or prompts, we’ve seen that we first need to make our planner our own and give it our personality in order to make it work and have it offer us the results that it’s designed to.

20. Understanding that no matter how perfectly we try to do things, we will still make mistakes and errors

They aren’t always avoidable and we don’t have to penalize anyone to learn how to do things correctly

21. That rest inspires action

The most beautiful thing we learnt – timely rest sparks our creativity, willingness and desire to do things in a way that nothing else does.

Are there any things from our list that coincide with your own from 2021? If you still haven’t made one, we encourage you to go ahead and make it now for we wonder what sweet things you’ll remember and continue to do!

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25 Zero BUDGET THINGS YOU’D LOVE TO DO

25 Zero Budget Things You’d Love To Do

The Joy of Shared Experiences

There are many meaningful experiences we can partake in through the exchange of currency, but today we’d like to share with you some simple and beautiful zero budget activities that can bring us all a lot of joy and allow us to do more with our loved ones.

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1. Have a picnic

Picnics are always such fun – whether in our balconies under the sun or in the park amidst the lush greens. You’d love having all your favorite snacks and home cooked treats in a basket and sharing them with your friends!

2. Reorganize or clean your cabinets

What can look like a chore may quickly feel enjoyable to you when you look at and touch all your precious belongings and rearrange them by color, category, style or purpose.

3. Look for free city tours

This is one you’d especially like doing with your friends. Not knowing what you’d discover, going for free tours with them is like a scavenger hunt.

4. Window shop

Window shopping lights up our creativity and imagination, where you’re able to look at things and just appreciate them for their beauty. What adds to the fun is seeing how people are trying to innovate with different designs and ideas every now and then.

5. Try new recipes

We don’t know what your style is but you can have a great time following the instructions of a new recipe and preparing a dish you’ve never tried before. It’s like a science experiment that ends with you having a delicious meal!

6. Soak in the warmth of the sun

Don’t you love how healing the morning sun feels when it touches your skin?

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7. Create a book club with your friends

It’s a whole new experience to read great books with friends and think about the many interpretations everyone has of the same one!

8. Have a music night

A happy, messy gala night with everyone around. We wonder what your favorite karaoke song to sing will be!

9. Play in the rain.

From jumping in the puddles to letting yourself get wet in the rain, this would take us all back to our childhood selves.

10. Go to the public library

We’ve put this on the list even for our friends who aren’t book lovers! Public and local libraries have so much to offer – beautiful and quaint architecture, stories of the past, and books with unheard names and pencil marks.

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11. Explore something that has always intrigued you

If a sport, subject, place or instrument (or anything else) that you’ve always felt interested in is something you can explore right now, why not try it and see what it makes you feel?

12. Call your loved ones

Staying connected with the people you love can always make your heart soar.

13. Host a potluck dinner with your friends and family

Potlucks are so exciting because you get to share meals you’ve cooked for each other, relish different flavors, and spend time together.

14. Go for a Walk

It can be so refreshing to feel all the sounds, sights and smells around you.

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15. Watch a new movie

A popcorn party in your pyjamas can make you enjoy even the strangest of films!

16. Make paper planes or origami

Some of us might need to watch a video tutorial for this, but it’s so much fun once we get to doing it. Added joy: It looks sweet when we hang it by our bed with strings!

17. Go to the beach

Nothing can soothe you more than taking a swim or walk at the beach, watching the waves and building sandcastles.

18. Have a sleepover

You’d love the idea of a long night of conversations, snacks, and video games with a loved one!

19. Stargazing

The glimmering stars have never failed to take one’s breath away. We’d always recommend going to a nearby viewpoint or laying on the grass to see their magnificence.

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20. Make a camp or fort in the living room

For us indoor cats, camping at home can be so fascinating. A few bedsheets, books, fairy lights, and a couch or floor mattress can make such a playful fort. Don’t forget to switch off the lights to give it that outdoor feel!

21. Family game night

A great way to bond and catch each other cheating, would you like to see how far everyone will go to win?

22. Make a new meal from already stocked items at home

You’d find this as innovative as it is challenging. To make something from ingredients that you didn’t think of putting together before? We foresee a blend of interesting flavors or a tragedy of taste, but neither without their fun.

23. Draw something and admire its uniqueness

It doesn’t matter if you’re an artist or can only get yourself to do some stick drawing. Play with shapes and see what funny things you make!

24. Go through your baby pictures

How long has it been since you saw your adorable baby pictures?

25. Mindful coloring

Relaxing and inspiring creativity at the same time, mindful coloring books can be a sweet way of adding some color to our day. PS – If, like us, you feel a little overwhelmed with books that have very intricate patterns, we encourage you to look for ones that have simpler designs.

We hope these 25 zero budget activities can add a little more pleasure and relaxation to your time, and that you add more to your list as you go on trying these!

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Inviting Change in our Everyday Life

Learning to Connect Deeply with the Ephemeral

2021 was a year that carried a lot of change for me. I changed fields and left a discipline that was a part of me for over ten years, lost one of my professors – a mentor, who in no short terms, (has) made me who I am, and moved to a city I knew nothing about barring its tales of traffic. Acclimatizing to a new pace of life, both at work and at home, and moving with the complexities of Covid-19 as it surged in India, there was so much change afoot that on most days it felt that I didn’t have my feet on the ground.

To need to “adapt” to change is a concept I found strange, more so elusive and imposed, since I was but a child, for there was nothing I found that would ground me through its course – not even its own unchanging consistency. Being here at IKKIVI, my colleague and now dear friend, Ms. Esha’s exploratory nature made me realise how poignantly I dislike change. I believe I have always resented it, sometimes even in the moments where making changes or changing itself held a lot of goodness and meaning. No matter how much we may accept Remy’s profound truth from Ratatouille that “change is nature”, change feels harsh to me – not necessarily because it makes our days and journey unpredictable or discomforting, but due to the constant movement and little rest its unfolding can involve.

Contemplating the beauty, value and near necessity of a slow and mindful approach to life that underlies the foundation of our work over the last several months, has nudged me into reflecting on my relationship with change. I have had the fortune to meet the shadows of my ‘self’ and soak in confusions to ask some critical questions about the pains of change and the ways in which I want to, or more so need to live, to be in harmony with who I am (becoming). Stemming from my own predispositions, my pursuits in philosophy have largely kept me engaged in inquiring about the metaphysics of our existence, but never so much in the subjectivities of our experiences and needs. Unsurprisingly – yet, to my joy – after years of detesting myself for being distinctly slow to “adapt” to the new, let go of the old, and to merge with the ebbs and flows of life seamlessly, when I looked into some particularities of my personality I recognised that I do not want to adapt to change, but invite it into my everyday practices. A minute play of language while it can seem to be in the beginning, as I went into the profundity of the real variances between the ideas and propositions of the two words, I saw that one softened me, opened my shell and offered me something, and the other unconsciously divorced me from the wisdom, sorrows as well as playfulness of change. But what would it mean to invite change? And does something that perpetually befolds naturally even be invited in the strictest of terms?

In as much as change signifies an alteration, reorientation, remoulding, reworking modifying or modification, renewal, evolution, or any kind of difference to specific forms, I believe it can. Change requires time, and does not frequently transpire at the accelerated rate that contemporary or modern living can mistake us into believing. The inhumane velocity of action that many of us unwittingly experience and become subjected to in such a domain I suspect plays a significant role in deterring us from being able to feel or fuse with the naturalness of change. What I have been discovering now through my experience and examinations is my intrinsic attunement to slow(er) living, and that slowing down from a metropolitan pace of life does not soften the harshness of change but enables me (and I hope ‘us’) to see that there is inherent softness in change itself – that the slower I move, the more tempered, correct and truthful change can feel; that we may not need to “adapt” to change when we are able to feel its naturalness (as much as possible).

Inviting such change has meant to consciously allow myself to differ from the ways I (have) know(n) myself to be, and appreciate the differences and movements around me. In practice this has taken the shape of keeping with a few everyday rituals at home, cultivating slow work values, learning from colleagues and friends, steadily letting go of what feels inauthentic or hurried, practicing being comfortable with taking more time to do things, and carving an intention each morning. Being able to feel the naturalness of change has encouraged me to integrate with two (among many other) of its essential elements – genuinity and beauty – in a way that I always hoped for: to experience and perceive lesser loss and pronounced unity in its meetings. I’d like to ask you what about ‘change’ disturbs or disrupts for and in you; what, if at all, you’d like to invite through it and what you’d like for it to give to you; what you’d like for it to mean and what you’d like to feel in its presence. These questions are stepping stones that can hold a space and bind us with the fluidity of our being, making it safer and more enlivening for us to explore the world and our place in it – and I’d love to know what that place looks like for you 🙂

CREDITS

Mindful Gifting

MINDFUL GIFTING

Creating Meaningful Experiences with Each Other

We love gifts! We love giving them, receiving them, hoping for them and being surprised by what we’d give to someone and what they’d give us. Over the years we have been practicing how to be mindful with gift giving, and understanding what that means to us. For us, gifting is about expressing joy, gratitude, and sharing. Being mindful with it is about paying attention and becoming aware of the ways in which we give to someone, why we give, and when. Buying presents for someone (including ourselves) can bring up a variety of feelings – some of them pleasurable and some conflicting. Gifting can feel stressful when trying to select the “right” gift from a plethora of available options, the bombardment of advertisements at every billboard, cultural expectations and personal standards along with the uncertainty of whether the recipient of our present will appreciate what we give them. We’re sharing with you here what we have learnt, and hope that it can help make your experiences of gift giving novel and fun.

1. Think About How you Feel when Buying a Present for Someone.

In the IKKIVI team, we realise we tend to feel excited and more connected with the person we’re buying a gift for, when we genuinely and intentionally want to give our loved one or acquaintance a gift — whether it’s a handmade item, our love and presence, or a gift from a shop. When buying a gift for someone, we ask ourselves seven questions: a) Do I actually want to give them something? b) What are the things I know about the person I am going to buy a present for? c) Will they be able to enjoy the gift I give them? d) Does the gift I give to them have the potential to bring us closer and cultivate a more meaningful relationship? e) What can I do if I feel unsure about what to give? f) How much money can I, or would I like to spend on buying something for them? g) How am I feeling, and what would make the process of looking for and buying a present easeful for me, or, keep stress at a minimum? Asking ourselves these questions puts us in a space where we (have to) become more deliberate about what we are doing, and reflect on how truthfully we are able to and want to engage in gift giving. We encourage you to ask yourself similar questions or use prompts when buying something, as this can reduce anxieties and make the experience rewarding for you as well.

2.Personalise the Present

There are many beautiful things we can buy for someone, and often we try that our gift is one that can translate into a shared experience, create memories and be enjoyed over time. We like giving handwritten notes, gratitude jars, mindful card and board games (for us to all play together), journals, going for picnics or boat rides, surprising our friends or family by bringing them a meal they love, simply spending time with them and extending our help with something they may be struggling with a little. We feel that gifts don’t have to be costly to express care or celebrate an occasion and like finding ways that can bring some newness to our relationships. What are some experiences you think would be creative and gentle for you and the recipient of your gift?

3.Introduce them to Something New

Gift giving can be a mindful way of introducing someone to an aspect of conscious living – buying a present from an eco-conscious shop, giving a gift card, a book from a different discipline, a new recipe or anything they may have been wanting to try. At IKKIVI, we have various gift cards that you can give to a loved one for them to explore sustainable brands, designs and products. Through these cards, we hope to encourage the conscious consumption of beautifully and mindfully made products that create minimal negative impact on the environment and its people. What we love about giving (and receiving!) gift cards is that they allow us to stay on budget, almost always assure that the recipient of our gift will love what they buy, and lets them freely and thoughtfully get something they may need or be looking for.

CREDITS

Can Taking on Zero Waste Cooking be Uncomplicated?

Taking a Closer Look at the Sustainable Practice

“Food is everything. It is nourishment. It is love. It is political. And our industrial system is wreaking havoc on our planet. So food is a good place to start when trying to live more sustainably. Food offers the opportunity to make more conscious choices three times a day (plus snacks!)”, says cookbook author, speaker and Zerowaste Chef, Anne-Marie Bonneau. To understand how simple or difficult low (to zero) waste cooking is, what myths around the lifestyle can derail us from its practice and how we can inspire ourselves to be more playful yet mindful with food, we, at IKKIVI Zine spoke with her this month and learnt some invaluable features about it. We hope these can support and further your own relationship with food and the environment, and bring newness to your everyday experiences with it.

1. What made you start zerowastechef? How has your journey with it been over the years?

Reading about plastic pollution in the oceans and its devastating effects on the oceans’ inhabitants started me on this journey. I decided on the spot that I would break up with plastic (doing so took several months). I then read about food waste—in the US, nearly 40 percent of the food we produce goes uneaten. That is an astonishing and absurd number. A couple of years into this lifestyle, I realized that I hadn’t had a cold or flu since I had changed my lifestyle. That came as a huge surprise. Cutting the plastic cleaned up my diet. Living more intentionally has also brought me so much joy. I never want to go back to the old days!

2. Could you tell us about your favorite part of the cooking process? (And your least favorite too!)

Cleaning is probably my least favorite task, although I love the results—a clean, organized kitchen. My favorite part of cooking is experimenting. Inspired to try something new with ingredients I have on hand has led to dishes and discoveries that I would not otherwise have made had I not imposed these constraints—to waste nothing—on myself.

3. We all learn differently – some of us respond more to books, some of us take to visuals and videos. How did you learn and develop this art of zero waste cooking?

I learned to ferment food and bake sourdough through books (I love books). Once I learned the basics, I started to experiment, which is not only fun but also reduces food waste. Fermentation plays a big role in preserving food in my kitchen—which reduces food waste. It also adds incredible flavors to food.

4. Through the course of the pandemic these last two years, a lot of us took to the kitchen and cooked more, cultivating a more intimate relationship with food. But many of us have also gone the other way – where in the thick of the stresses, we have lost the degree of connection we had with it. Food in one sense, just became about eating for the need and sake of eating. How can we go back to it, this time more mindfully than before?

I think getting back to cooking for nourishment and pleasure requires a shift in mindset, like any lifestyle change. I think you take it one day—or one meal—at a time and don’t stress about the big picture. And keep in mind all the work and resources that went into producing our food. Respect and gratitude for food will bring more joy to cooking.

5. Often we get discouraged and disinterested in starting something new or in staying committed to it, if it feels too difficult or time consuming. How can we make learning and practicing zero or low waste cooking fun and engaging for ourselves in the midst of hectic days and schedules?

Cooking with what you have on hand saves time and money. You won’t have to run out to the grocery store for that one missing ingredient. Make do and experiment with what you have on hand. When you do cook, make it worth your while and cook a double batch of whatever—if you will eat it all! Freeze some of that food to enjoy later. Cook once, eat twice (or three times).

6. What are some challenges people can expect to experience when they start practicing low or zero waste cooking and living?

Don’t let the “zero” in “zero waste” scare you or induce paralysis. Zero waste is merely a goal. Even if you don’t bring any plastic into your own home, plastic and other waste hide in the supply chain unseen behind almost everything we buy. So, don’t expect to be perfect—it’s not possible. And don’t expect to overhaul your lifestyle overnight. Just try to make a couple of changes, get them down and then try some more.

7. Sometimes we may not immediately be able to adopt a zero waste lifestyle. But we can try to produce as minimal waste as possible. Could you share with us some mindful and eco-conscious methods of disposing of the waste that is created in our homes?

A couple of strategies will have a big impact. Reducing food waste is one of the most impactful actions you can take. Food waste accounts for 8 to 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the US. To put that into perspective, aviation accounts for about 2.5 percent of global emissions. So eat all the food you buy. There is no downside to doing that.

Composting is also crucial. Food waste—when it does happen—and food scraps should never go to a landfill. In a landfill, food becomes compacted and cut off of oxygen. The anaerobic bacteria that break it down emit methane, a greenhouse gas that is much more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term. If you have access to a yard, start a pile in the corner of it. You don’t even need to build a bin if you don’t want to. You can also pit compost—bury the food scraps in the ground. If you can’t compost in a yard, look for community gardens or farms that offer dropoff of your scraps. You can also compost indoors with worms. I once saw a worm bin that serves as an ottoman in someone’s living room! Of course, you can keep a worm but out of sight, in a cupboard or closet.

If you no longer want an item—clothes, furniture, kitchenware, for example—someone else likely does. Try to find a home for your unwanted items. Recycling is a last resort—prevention is key—and plastic has an abysmally low recycling rate (about 9 percent in the US). But put any recyclables in the bin. Some items do have a high recycling rate, such as aluminum cans.

8. What is one myth about zero waste cooking and living that you think needs to be debunked? And how can we do so?

People think zero-waste living costs a lot of money. I save money. I tell people the lifestyle is a package deal. Yes, local organic produce often costs more than non-organic industrially produced food, for example, but I eat all of the food I buy, which saves a small fortune. The average family of four in the US spends $1800 a year on food that goes uneaten. I eat lower on the food chain—lots of fruit and vegetables, beans and lentils and whole grains. I don’t buy things I don’t need. I recently moved and packing is not my favorite thing. If you’re tempted to buy something that you may not need, ask yourself if you want to pack it up one day when you move! That will stop many impulse buys. When I do buy something I need, I try to find it second-hand. I’m also fairly handy at repairing things—and at finding someone to pay to repair things. I had my sewing machine repaired this summer. The repairman tried to talk me into buying a new one (he also sells machines). Mine is much nicer than the new ones and using it until it can no longer be repaired is much more sustainable.

9. What are some of the difficulties you still experience when practicing a conscious lifestyle?

I have access to year-round farmers’ markets and very good bulk stores and I am able to compost. So I don’t find the lifestyle difficult here. Also, I was raised in a very religious household and trained to live consciously. So I would say the most difficult part of this lifestyle is other people’s expectations—which is really true of life in general. People want to give me things I don’t want (my family now knows not to). I really don’t want more stuff. So that can lead to some awkward situations.

10. What are the projects or learnings you are currently dedicated to? How is the rest of the year looking for you?

I’m attempting to rewild my yard. I recently moved back to my house after having lived in an intentional community for 15 years. I’d like to tear up at least some of the heat-retaining concrete in the backyard and replace it with native plants to attract pollinators. I’ve been saving logs from felled trees and branches and plan to build some raised hugelkultur beds outside for growing more vegetables. I’ll also plant a few more fruit trees.

If you’d like to know about Anne-Marie’s work, you can visit her website and Instagram page.

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Changing the Ways in Which we Work

Tracing New Trajectories in Fashion

CREDITS

Interviewer and Writer

Malini Mathur

Layout and Graphic Design

Vedhika HV

Images by

Mansi Bhatia (Em and Shi)

Editor

Rhea Gupte

IKKIVI Zine is a property of IKKIVI by Founder

Nivi Murthy

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Why Being Who We Are Matters

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Interviewer and Writer

Malini Mathur

Layout and Graphic Design

Vedhika HV

Images by

Kanchan Sharma (Ahmev)

Editor

Rhea Gupte

IKKIVI Zine is a property of IKKIVI by Founder

Nivi Murthy

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Bangalore Diaries

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Writer

Malini Mathur

Co-ordinator & Producer

Esha Vishnoi

Layout and Graphic Design

Vedhika HV

Editor

Rhea Gupte

IKKIVI Zine is a property of IKKIVI by Founder

Nivi Murthy

Fashion Revolution Week

How You Can Be Part of the Movement

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Writer

Malini Mathur

Layout and Graphic Design

Vedhika HV

Editor

Rhea Gupte

IKKIVI Zine is a property of IKKIVI by Founder

Nivi Murthy

Carving a Path Toward a More Just Future

What We Can Do Today Amidst the Climate Crisis

CREDITS

Words

Lauren MacDonald

Images

Alexander Hoyles, Will Gibson & Alice Aedy

Interview and Introduction

Malini Mathur

Layout and Graphic Design

Vedhika HV

Editor

Rhea Gupte

IKKIVI zine is a property of IKKIVI by Founder

Nivi Murthy

21 Things We Learnt in 2021

The Gems That Guided Us In The Year That Was

CREDITS

Writer

Malini Mathur & Vedhika HV

Layout and Graphic Design

Vedhika HV

Editor

Rhea Gupte

IKKIVI Zine is a property of IKKIVI by Founder

Nivi Murthy

25 Zero Budget Things You’d Love To Do

The Joy of Shared Experiences

CREDITS

Writer