MANILA – Armed with the intention to encourage the youth to recycle, visual artist Seb de Jesus thought of a creative and practical way to reuse old cardboards, catalogues, magazines, newspapers and yellow page directories.
"There are many items which we can recycle in order to lessen the waste that we throw everyday. But, we stuck to paper because I found it easier to recycle and decorate and eventually become part of the environment again," de Jesus told Philippine News Agency (PNA).
Kariton by 1372 Designs
De Jesus said that his advocacy to recycle started when he and his wife were living in Singapore.
"In the Singaporean society, people throw away stuff they no longer like even if they're still useful and beautiful. My wife and I (became) sort of garbage collectors, taking in our neighbors' trash which are still in good condition," he said.
When they came back to the Philippines, de Jesus created the brand Kariton - a small business offering different stationery products - with the help of his wife and children.
"Our brand is Kariton but we're called 1372 designs and we conceptualize used paper mainly, which we get from the garbage or from the donations of our neighbors," he said.
After cleaning and sorting their paper materials, de Jesus said they cut and assemble them into journals, notebooks, postcards, sketchpads and ticklers.
“I do the printing, the binding and the cutting and the filling of all the notebooks and it takes me 10 minutes only because I’m quite used to it,” he said.
A sketchpad cover made from mixed banana leaves, pugon grass and rice stalks.
(Photo by: Ma. Teresa Montemayor)
Most of journals they sell have woven covers made from the old yellow pages directories.
"We also have this handmade notebook, the materials for the cover are from the wives of Nueva Ecija rice farmers, these are all made after the harvest, after cutting farm plants. Instead of burning it all up, we thought on how to make it into paper, "he said.
De Jesus said he lets his children draw designs for the bookmarks and covers of the notebooks and sketchpads.
“We have a master of artworks and then we scan it and then print it on the covers because placing the designs on the items manually is time-consuming,” he said.
Visual artist Seb De Jesus draws the different symbols of Philippine culture on the covers of the notebooks he sells.
(Photo by: Ma. Teresa Montemayor)
"But there are original artwork covers which I drew myself, and they're a bit expensive compared to the regular ones because it takes time to draw plus the ink, the coloring," he added.
Since they lack the technology and time to create their own paper which serve as the leaves of journals, notebooks and sketchpads, de Jesus said they buy recycled white paper from companies which share their advocacy to save the environment.
Helping the Environment
Despite the rampant use of mobile devices and gadgets among students, de Jesus said he was surprised to see that many of the buyers of his items are young people.
“I think it’s like that because the students become interested when I explain the texture, the kind of techniques I used on each product, the instrument we used in the notebooks as well with the paper,“ he said.
De Jesus said explaining those things to the young buyers is also one way for him to encourage them to recycle, reuse, and repurpose.
Knowing the huge impact of plastic to the environment, de Jesus said he tells his buyers not to dispose of the plastic cover of the items they buy from him.
“I tell them to keep the plastic and donate them to ecbrick.ph because its members make something useful out of plastic and such advocacy takes a lot of effort and support,” he said. (PNA)
