CDs + Wedding Cards 🔴

CDs or compact discs are portable storage media that was invented in the late 1960s by the American physicist James Russell. Though extremely popular and convenient to use, they can be extremely difficult to recycle. It’s estimated that it will take more than a million years for a CD to completely decompose in a landfill and if CDs are burnt as part of the disposal process, they can release harmful chemicals in the air.

A wedding invitation is a letter asking the recipient to attend a wedding. It is typically written in a formal tone. In the Middle Ages, illiteracy was widespread among common people, and weddings were typically announced by means of a Town crier: a man who would walk through the streets announcing in a loud voice the news of the day. Traditionally, anyone within earshot became part of the celebration.

The practice of sending written wedding invitations emerged among the nobility. Families of means would commission monks, skilled in the art of calligraphy, to hand-craft their notices. Such documents often carried the coat of arms, or personal crest, of the individual and were sealed with wax. In todays times we hand out wedding cards — from the ‘simple’ to the ‘esoteric’.

The wedding card market in India is worth Rs 8000 to Rs 10,000 crores. The elaborate wedding invite comes with the main card and three to four add-on cards, and these cards are trashed almost immediately post the wedding.

CDs + Wedding Cards = T-lite holders!!

These T-lite holders are born out of my need to artistically recycle and reuse what would otherwise have been trashed. While the CDs themselves help provide a firm circular base, the wedding cards dress them up, and the embellishments from these cards add to the overall appeal.

As the warm light of the T-lite spreads through the frame, the stones shimmer, spreading hope and happiness. These T-lite holders can also be paired with a ‘Roli-chawal’ {for Rakshabandhan} as an option.