Holi is round the corner, and what better than playing holi with organic and skin-friendly gulaals created using temple flowers by underprivileged women and differently-abled people. “This year, 200 people with intellectual disabilities at 20 different centres in Bengaluru and Hyderabad earned an income for six months by making Holi colours branded as Petalists. This is our second year of making Holi colours. Last year, we produced 1,200kg colours.
This time we’ve made 3,000kg colours from 10,000kg fresh temple flowers,” says Mayura Balasubramanian, Founder of Craftizen.
The flowers are de-petaled, dried in sun, and then infused with food-grade colours and natural flour for the final colour. A combination of flowers are used. For example, marigold and indigo for yellow and blue; rose and hibiscus for red; and leaves to extract green colour.
The other positive aspect of these colours is that one needs the same amount of water to wash them off, as one needs to bath.
Whereas other chemical-based colours require three times more water. These are 100 per cent eco-friendly colours and are being sold in zero plastic packaging.
Another organisation Phool Co., based out of Kanpur, also adds herbs, and natural essential oils, apart from wheat and rice flour, and food-grade colours.
The brand’s Head of Marketing and Sales, Apurv Misal, says, “We daily recycle 8.5-tonne flowers, and a large percentage of this has been used for colours in the past couple of months. This was our first attempt at making Phool Organic Gulaal. We figured we could extend the usage of flowers to making Holi colours apart from making incense sticks.”
He informs that to ensure the products retain freshness and quality, the brand starts manufacturing the colours just before Holi, and takes about three-four working days to deliver the orders in Delhi.
While the flowers for Phool Co. come from prominent temples in and around Kanpur, Craftizen takes its stock from temples in Bengaluru and even wedding functions. Balasubramanian says, “De-petaling flowers and separating different colours has therapeutic effects on these intellectually disabled people and it helps in cognitive rehabilitation. It instils a sense of responsibility, confidence and satisfaction. Our petalists work for two-four hours a day, and depending on their contribution to the different tasks, earn Rs 1,500-4,000 per month.”
As part of its Green Skilling programme, Craftizen is skilling the beneficiaries in upcycling and recycling discarded materials, in association with NIMHANS, Orione Seva, Richmond Fellowship Society, Grameena Abhyudaya Seva Samsthe, Manasadhara centre in Bengaluru and Craftizen’s Swayam Shakti unit in Hyderabad.