She recycles liquor bottles into personalised lamps

What Sharanya Menon started as a hobby to supplement her income, has transformed into a start-up that also spreads the message of recycling and reusing waste materials to promote a greener way of life.

With the world headed in the direction of individual expression, more entrepreneurs are building on the idea of personalised and customised products that have a bit of the 'you' factor, as well as a quirky angle to them.

For Sharanya Menon, it was no different -- except that her venture started off as a pastime to make a little money on the side.

Today Sharanya is the founder of High-Light, recycling liquor bottles into pieces of art and light on order.

"High-Light is a mode of expression, a way of portraying yourself in art rather than words. When I first started designing lamps for people, it was nothing more than a way to keep myself busy and earn a little money. But once it started picking up, I realised that it worked because customers nowadays don't want to gift something that is redundant and run-of-the-mill. So I decided to make it a little more than just a hobby," she shares.

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Every piece from High-Light is unique; Sharanya believes that with every order comes a new experience, because each piece is tweaked and created to the taste and preference of that individual.

With customers ranging from school students to housewives and corporates, Calvin and Hobbes, Harley Davidson, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Comics and Manchester United are just a sampling of the themes and customised designs that High-Light has made to order so far.

Mass production just won't work with High-Light -- Sharanya spends a day or two on every piece.

"The most intricate piece I have done, took me four days to finish," she says.

Priced according to the intricacy of the work done, the cost also includes the lights and courier fee.

From its inception in August 2011 up until now, High-Light is a one woman show, with Sharanya handling everything from actual design and sourcing to publicity.

High-Light is also another start-up that has placed its bet on social media to market itself and Facebook definitely seems to have worked its magic for the brand.

Apart from social media, Sharanya says, "I have also received orders by word-of-mouth. Flea markets are another quick and easy way of marketing this idea, as buyers there are always on the lookout for quirky items."

Juggling between a full-time job and High-Light, Sharanya has plans to expand as well, especially foraying into the area of customised spaces.

Though many entrepreneurs have managed to catch the customised pulse of the consumer today, the scalability of ideas of customisation and personalisation is yet to be explored in full.