Prison inmates to give form to NID's furniture designs

Creating the best out of waste could not get any better than this. Leftover wooden chips from furniture workshop inside Sabarmati Central Jail have been given a new form that could liven up any corporate office or modern house.

Four final year students of product designing course at National Institute of Design (NID) have been roped in to work with various production units of Gujarat prisons to give the designer touch and make value addition to furniture, bakery and chemical production units of the jail. The team includes Dhaumya Mehta, Priyanka Chauhan, Sachin Ravindran and Abhishek Anupam.

The existing logo of Prison Inc might also get a new look. "We were given the freedom to explore all possibilities with prison inmates. First we visited the prison facilities and studied existing equipment and the work culture along with the quality of finished products. We then started improving upon them," said Dhaumya.

Innovation was also a key for the team. Priyanka said, "We observed that the carpentry workshop throws up a lot of waste. We devised a way to use the chips and strips along with glue and then pressurized it with heat, which gave rise to a checkered design. We are using this technique for table-top objects such as candle stand, incense stick holder, pen stand and flower vase."

Prison officials have pinned their hopes on these designer products. "They are likely to be a big hit. Corporate houses can gift these unique products as mementos," they said.