Old Teflon pans come alive as home decor

What can one do to give a new life to an old used Teflon pan? Alekhya Sengupta Banerjee, a 12th grade student from Bengaluru has figured out a unique and simple way to reuse them — turn them into artwork.

Alekhya runs H2P2 (Happy Hands Pots and Pans), an organisation that collects worn out pans and pots and trains underprivileged children, women and specially abled people to convert them into home decor. 

It was during the pandemic that Alekhya started exploring art across mediums with her mother Mohua. They started painting on dried leaves and rocks and saving them as decorative items at home. “I came across a few Teflon pans and decided to paint on them. It took me around five trials to figure out how to work on such a surface,” she shares. 

Alekhya started checking on the Internet about how Teflon can be reused and recycled and realised that the material is more harmful for nature, compared to plastic. “There is a lot of awareness about plastic, initiatives to control plastic usage, and how to avoid it. But not much can be found on Teflon recycling. This is what initially inspired the project,” says the 17-year-old. 

An artist from a young age, Alekhya was surfing about art therapy online when she read about its healing effect on mental health. The process of recycling an object and transforming it into something beautiful “can be both rewarding and empowering”, says the student from The International School of Bangalore. This is what led her to make art on Teflon pans with NGOs that work with specially abled people and destitute women. H2P2 works with Sandesh, a community working with specially abled people in Horamavu Agara village in Bengaluru. Regular workshops are also held at NGOs like Hosabelaku Trust and Gubbachi Learning Community. The net proceeds are given back to the NGOs.

Designing decor

To make decor out of a Teflon pan, all one needs is acrylic colours (black and a few other bright colours), brushes, a design in mind, and varnish. Alekhya explains the process at the NGOs via workshops. “Paint the pan’s face entirely with black acrylic colour and let it dry for a day. Choose a design you want to work with and use vibrant colours like orange, yellow, red, and lavender to fill in the pattern. It is usually a floral pattern. Let this dry,” explains the Bellandur resident. Alekhya uses stencils when working with people at the NGOs. 

Once the pattern has dried, retouch the design to even it out whenever needed and let it dry again. Sometimes a third coat of paint is needed. If the pan has its handle intact, it also has to be painted. “After the entire design has dried, apply varnish on it and let this dry. This helps the design stay intact and it will not fade. The pan can be wiped clean, if dusty,” she explains. It could take around 4 to 5 days to complete the artwork on a pan. 

Alekhya hopes to connect with more NGOs and spread awareness about her idea in Bengaluru and other cities. She has recently started selling these pans on Etsy too. H2P2 has sold around 230 pan decor items so far. Depending on the size of the pan, the decor item is sold from Rs 800 to Rs 1,500.

For details, check H2P2 on Facebook and LinkedIn.