The Plated Project
Started as a passion project which took shape as a small social venture which addresses the mission of hunger, giving birth to the mission statement: buy a plate, fill a plate.
The Plated Project was created to transform spaces with art while creating a massive social impact.
We wanted to raise awareness and funds to fight hunger in India.
Social Venture Design
Timeline
6-8 months
Region
India
My Role
Research
Ideation
Building Partnerships
Tools & Activities
Workshopping
Business Model Design
Team
Aditya Wadher
Chitresh Sinha
Dhruvi Shah
Alekhya Raghavan
Urja Sinha
The Process
Use art to fight the most pressing social issues in India today.
Why art? Art destroys boundaries. Art starts conversations. Also aim to create a platform to share art by budding as well as thriving artists in India.
Why hunger? 1 in 4 children in India grows up malnourished. 700 million people sleep hungry every night. We want to bring this number down.
Exploration Area
We collaborate with partners or NGOs and select a theme for The Plated Project to work with.
We curate global and local artists who create art based on the chosen theme.
We print this art on a plate. These art plates become collector’s edition.
Concept
4. Art lovers buy these plates from exclusive pop-ups, partnerships, and The Plated Project’s website.
5. A part of the profits are used to feed those supported by selected NGOs.
Our first partnership kicked off with ‘Le 15 Patisserie’ launching ‘A Quarter Plate of Nostalgia’ to support children at ‘Save the Children’. The unique thing about ‘A Quarter Plate of Nostalgia’ is that one-fourth of the area in each plate is left blank to communicate “the sobering reality that these plates aim to fix.
Immediately after we launched ‘A Memory of the Future with Marriott Bonvoy, supporting their partnership with Art Basel to revive four dying art forms into beautiful art plates across their four luxury properties in Hong Kong: St. Regis, Ritz Carlton, W Hong Kong, and JW Marriott.
Right after we collaborated with a string of corporate partners to scale ‘The Plated Project’ iterating design, pricing model, and functionality to fine-tune the product as well as the long-term business goals.
Initial Partnerships
650K+ Meals Sponsored so far
Awareness: Hunger is a symptom of bigger inequalities in gender, community, and abilities. We raised awareness about these root problems.
Funds: We donated 50% of our net profits to charity every month. No matter what.
Charities Supported: Zomato Feeding India, Give India, Goonj. Covered by major publications globally including the New York Times, Forbes, AD and Meta.
Impact
Social Impact space is crowded. To have a profitable business, need to tap a niche space and cause.
Innovation necessarily need not be technology heavy. Making connections where none exist (Art + Hunger) can be a starting point for innovation.
Constant iteration across products, partnerships, pricing, and supply channels is necessary for a social venture to survive and thrive.
