The air we inhale in India is dirty, as the country is home to 21 of the world’s 30 most polluted places. The United Nations has designated air pollution to be the most serious public health problem. The World Health Organisation reckons that 92 percent of the world’s citizens live in places with poor air quality.

Transforming disaster to opportunity, Mumbai-born Tejas Sidnal uses air pollution to create items we use every day, such as tiles. Sidnal is a 32-year-old designer, bioinspired architect, and scientist who founded Carbon Craft Design. Climate designers study strategies for replicating nature’s solutions to impending concerns such as contamination as well as other environmental crises.

His Contributions

Tejas founded Carbon Craft Designs in 2016, a firm that integrates design with sustainable and environmental technologies. Their main product is excellent tiles made from recovered manufacturing carbon. The gathered gas is combined with building materials to make ceramic tiles, with one tile cleaning 30,000 liters of air.

Sidnal fosters a recycling program and ecologically conscious usage by creating sustainable construction solutions. Using reclaimed carbon black, his company manufactures monochrome tiles with designs in black, white, and four gray shades.

Since its debut a year ago, CCD’s clients have included international fashion labels and Indian design businesses. In November 2020, the company will refurbish an Adidas store in Mumbai with carbon panels adorning the walls and flooring. The CCD has developed itself as a reputable architectural practice in India by providing innovative designs that are environmentally sustainable. However, Sidnal is committed to making contamination visible in the air in order to tackle contamination. As he seeks money for the research and development of what he calls a Reverse Chimney Pavilion, a funnel-like structure that he believes can collect tainted air, cleanse it, and discharge it back into the environment.