KOCHI: Creativity knows no limit. These last couple of years have specially brought out plenty of creative thinking from people around the world. One such wonder was recently created by Kollam-based Anna Elizabeth George, a home baker and florist. Anna created the first-ever life-size edible saree. She had crafted the Kerala kasavu saree into a delight, as an Onam special gesture. Anna was always in awe of the Kerala kasavu saree, how it represented her rich culture and essence of traditions as a Malayali.
As a baker, Anna loves to experiment and create new flavours for her customers, and that is how she thought of doing something similar to the Kerala kasavu. “I didn’t just make it as dessert. It is also a unique culture and heritage of our state. The dessert is a typical traditional Kerala kasavu saree with a golden border.
The patterns are inspired by a saree owned by my mother, Priya Susan Jacob,” shares Anna.
Elaborating on the idea, she says though edible fabric is quite common, people only make ones as big as a handkerchief. “I love taking up challenges. It took me almost a month to research and plan this saree,” she says. She took around a week to execute the 5.5 m-long apparel that weighs around two kilograms.
“For the saree base, I used starch-based wafer paper. It is made from either potato or rice starch. Each wafer paper is about the size of an A4 sheet. I used around 100 of them to get the length and texture of the saree. Gold lustre dust, which is used for cake decorations, was used to create the patterns,” explains Anna, who is currently doing her PhD in cancer and neurobiology.
As a home baker, making a five metre long saree at home was a clumsy task. “I needed around six yards of space to work on. Maintaining the texture was hard too since I didn’t have any temperature control device,” she says. She spent around I 30,000 on the saree. Anna, who runs Jacob’s bakes had come up with themed designer cakes and cupcakes duringlast year’s Onam with her sister Aniya George.