This lab is capturing pollution and turning it into paint

Featured on cnn.com

Air Ink, a brand new concept by India-basedGraviky Labs, uses polluted air to create paint and ink.

The company's first line of Air Ink products includes pens, oil-based paints and spray paints. Each product contains pigments made from carbon soot.

The ink is the brainchild of Graviky Labs founder Anirudh Sharma, who describes himself as a chronic inventor. Sharma previously created LeChal, a smart shoe fitted with sensors that help the visually-impaired walk, through gentle vibrations.

In a recent partnership with Tiger Beer, Graviky Labs tested its soot-based product in Hong Kong -- which is known for its high pollution -- and put it in the hands of local artists. 9 artists were invited to paint murals with the ink in the city's Sheung Wan district.

Capturing carbon soot

Sharma was first inspired to create Air Ink after a conversation with his friends in India, during which, many complained about how heavy air pollution would leave marks on their clothes.

He experimented with the idea as a researcher at MIT media lab, and then went on to start Graviky Labs in India -- further developing the concept.

"I thought, artists create their work through smudging, marks, ink and paint. How do we tackle this air pollution problem creatively, like an artist would? What if we used art as a way to repurpose this carbon soot?"

So for the past three years, Sharma's team at Graviky Labs have researched just that -- how to capture, purify and re-purpose carbon soot, and turn it into an usable paint for art.

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