Organic colours a popular pick this Holi

City-based businesses are making them from a variety of natural sources — marigold, tulsi, beetroot, and spinach

Bengalureans are increasingly enquiring for skin-friendly, organic colours (gulal) for the festival of Holi, coming up on March 8.

Metrolife lists out groups in the city that are selling chemical-free colours, which are made from dried flowers and leaves or edible extracts from vegetables.

Edible ingredients

Home entrepreneur Punya Khanna made organic colours for her children last Holi. She got encouraging feedback from her peers and that’s when she decided to make and sell the colours through her brand ‘One Change’.

Currently, Punya offers four colours, all pastel shades — Peppa pink, Sunny yellow, Rusty orange, and Go green.

“The colours are made from edible ingredients such as extracts of beetroots and spinach, turmeric, indigo, and flowers like marigold. These are mixed with flour and essential oils, and are dried and powdered, after which they are ready to use,” she explains.

These colours shouldn’t be ingested, but are child-safe and pet-friendly, Punya adds. The colours start at Rs 150 for 100 gm.

Contact @onechange.matters on Instagram

Flower power

Petalists, a group of artisans with intellectual disability, have made Holi colours by recycling temple flowers. “We offer five colours — pink, yellow, orange, blue and green. These are available as 1 kg packets and in combo packs,” Mayura Balasubramanian, founder of Craftizen Foundation behind this group, informs.

These colours “help save water as they wash off easily, and are certified skin friendly”, she adds.

Talking about the growing demand, Mayura said their production increased three times from 2018 to 2020.

“Since Holi is a contact-based festival, there was a slump in 2021 and 2022. Our sales have improved now,” she says.

Thanks to growing awareness about eco-friendly options, Mayura observes that “competitors have increased significantly in the last few years”.

Call 96060 71227 and pick up your order from Craftizen’s office on 7th main road, 2nd cross, HAL 2nd stage, Indiranagar. Or, visit shop.craftizen.org

Hoovu Fresh has been making organic colours similarly for the past two years.

The flowers are dried, powdered and sieved to attain “the best colour and consistency”, informs founder Rhea Karuturi. Four colours are available here — Rose purple, Marigold orange,
Marigold yellow, and Neem and tulsi green. A combo of all colours (150 gm each) is available at Rs 799 on their website.

“We started it as an experiment. We launched the product in 2022 in a few markets. This year, we have pan-India shipping and have partnered with multiple shops and brands,” she adds.

“People who are conscious about the environment and want to avoid using chemicals on skin” form majority of the clientele. “Young mothers who want their children to indulge in a safe Holi are our returning customers,” Rhea points out.

Call 91481 47512, or visit hoovufresh.com