“Every second, the equivalent of a rubbish truck load of clothes is burnt or buried in landfill.” – The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
We exist to question
We exist to reclaim
We exist to decentralize
We exist to decolonize
We started with the aim to reduce and reuse waste produced by our parent company, a garment factory – Shivam International.
We started with our focus on handloom weaving, specifically on rag rug weaving. We enjoy perceiving crafts that would be considered “lowbrow” by larger populous through the lens of quality and design.
With 3 craftspeople who trusted our vision and experimented with us, we started our journey. Now we have 20+ artisans working with us.
Being in their village, allows craftspeople to reuse the dye water into the farmland and yield a better quality of crops, allowing Iro Iro to take a step further in achieving its aim to be a truly circular system.
Moving in Circles
Our zero-waste system
IRO IRO is a circular design collective based in Jaipur. We define Circular Design as a practice driven with empathy, empathy towards all beings, towards the planet, towards ourselves, and through empathy keeping materials in the value chain. For us the best way to execute such a practice is to work with waste, indigenous practices, people and the planet.
Discovering an Indian Identity
Decolonising Fashion
“The rural arts of India are the arts of the settled villages and countryside, of people with lives tuned to the rhythm of nature and its laws of cyclical change, an art with a central concern with the earth and with harvesting…The rural arts of India are the visual expression and technological processes that had remained static for over two thousand years…Rural arts are also the arts of people living in forests and mountains, the ancient inheritors of this land, who claim to be the first-born of the earth…..”(Jayakar, 1980/1989)
Textile Lab
Experimenting Class
Substituting new materials with
waste in multiple
craft traditions of India
200
Tonnes of Co2 saved
10000
Kilos of textile waste upcycled
100000
Liters of Water saved
Humans behind the work
Our Team
“Every time we create something, we weave a new story of the old, we reclaim the forgotten, we embrace the rejects.”
“I just want to work so I can earn some money and decide to spend it however I want to.”
“I am saving money and sending my daughters to college. For them, marriage will be a choice.”
“Because of casteism, I could not dare dream big. I wanted to change that for my children.”
“I have been weaving for 60 years now. Working with iro iro allows me to work slowly which suits my lifestyle and pace.”
“My husband is a weaver, both my sons are weavers. I have seen this craft die in front of me and be revived again in the region. This is what perhaps they call living for a lifetime. My younger son went to work as a construction labourer but has comeback because of this work.”
