Dutch designer Pepe Heykoop blended his skills with those of Mumbai's Pardeshi community to create a simple design with big impact. Empowering one of India’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, the Tiny Miracles Paper Vases are cut, stitched, folded and delivered all over the world.
When philanthropist and founder of Tiny Miracles, Laurien Meuter, asked her cousin, Dutch designer Pepe Heykoop, to design a product that could be made by the Pardeshi community in Mumbai, neither imagined the impact one design could make. For Heykoop, it would take two-and-a-half years to resolve the idea that blends the skills and way of thinking of the local community with his own.
Exploring and experimenting with ideas in collaboration with local knowledge was central to the final design which requires just two steps: folding and stitching, before the vase is ready to slip into an envelope and post around the world. It’s a clever flat-pack design that springs to life when opened, wrapping an empty bottle with colour and saving it from the waste stream.
Philanthropist and founder of Tiny Miracles, Laurien Meuter, with designer Pepe Heykoop and members of the Paper Vase design team in Mumbai. Photo c/o Tiny Miracles.
“Our dream for a poverty-free world is a big one, but we keep our approach simple. Take the first step and just keep on going, one small step, one tiny miracle at a time.”
Laurien Meuter, Founder Tiny Miracles
Since its launch, the Paper Vase has worked with the Rijksmuseum, won the Interior Innovation Award IMM Cologne and the attention of the United Nations and King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, and boosted more than 2,000 lives through employment, education and healthcare in one of India’s most disadvantaged communities.
Using the success of the project, Tiny Miracles is now scaling up to help one million people out of poverty by 2030. As Meuter remarks, “Our dream for a poverty-free world is a big one, but we keep our approach simple. Take the first step and just keep on going, one small step, one tiny miracle at a time.”
