Bangalore’s Graviky Labs develops tool to capture soot for recycling.

BANGALORE — At a cafe in the Bangalore’s central district, artist Pavithra Chowdappa doodles on canvas with a marker labeled AIR-INK.

“This is a special marker,” she says, making black strokes across the white surface. “It’s the only environmentally friendly ink around. And it’s so smooth, and nice — in fact, better than many others in the market — that one can hardly guess it’s sourced from air pollution.”

The ink she is using is made from airborne particles through a process invented by Anirudh Sharma, 30, an Indian graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S. The process involves capturing air particulate matter from vehicles and diesel generators using a proprietary tool created by Sharma’s Bangalore-based startup, Graviky Labs.

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