In a world that often discards more than it keeps, finding beauty in waste can feel like an act of quiet rebellion. Every day, tonnes of cardboard boxes — used once, forgotten quickly — end up in landfills across cities. But in a small studio in Vasai, Maharashtra, something different is taking shape. Here, what’s thrown away is given a second life, shaped by hands that see possibility where others see scrap.

At the centre of it all is Bandana Jain, an artist, a storyteller, and someone deeply committed to sustainability.

Bandana’s studio hums with quiet energy. Inside, discarded cardboard boxes are transformed into life-sized sculptures, their folds and layers speaking of resilience and reinvention. Walk into the sun-dappled space, and it feels almost like stepping into a conversation — one where waste is not the end, but the beginning of something meaningful.

Bandana’s journey with cardboard began in 2013, born from a desire to break away from conventional art materials. “I felt that I had worked with wood and other mediums, but the market was looking for something different,” she recalls. But this shift was about more than standing out. “If I worked with cartons and recycled or upcycled them, I thought it would give me an avenue to talk about sustainability.”

Her art plays with texture and form, drawing the eye in. “My work is like folds of fabric,” she explains. “It looks very soft, but when you come closer and touch it, you feel a really hard material.”

The influence of fabric runs deeper than surface inspiration. “I feel that fabric, with its folds going up and down, light and dark, shows light in a way that reflects life itself. You see the ups and downs in life too, and that’s just a part of it,” she says, connecting her sculptural language to lived experience.

A childhood rooted in nature

Bandana’s artistic leanings trace back to the village of Thakurganj in Bihar, where she grew up surrounded by the gentle rhythms of nature. “I always loved nature, and it was always inside........

© The Better India