Handcrafted to perfection
These ladies are bringing a desi and quirky touch to their handcrafted goodies that make for ideal gifts this Christmas.
By : namita gupta
Update: 2015-12-23 23:16 GMT
Tis the season for gifting and what better way to celebrate the joy of giving than handcrafted chocolates and even better, handcrafted candles. With Christmas just a day away, selecting gifts for your loved ones becomes more and more top of mind. Meet these pretty ladies from Bengaluru who are handcrafting exclusive goodies that could make for ideal Christmas or New Year’s gifts.
Shruti M Saha and Priya Kulkarni: This dynamic duo creates vibrant lifestyles, appealing ambiances and memorable gifting experiences, with the magic of EitherOrr handcrafted candles inspired by the art of Indian mehendi. What’s special about these candles is that they burn down through the middle, while leaving an outer wax shell giving a glow from within effect and are very affordable.
Laughing all the way to the bank with goodie bags of compliments for her designs at a flea market this week, Shruti tells us, “Priya and I have been friends for 10 years now. When we went around looking for embellished candles we wouldn’t find many, besides some perfumed or coloured candles and since we were both fascinated with henna, we took inspiration and technique from the Mehendi art and incorporated it in our designs. Priya knows how to make candles. We do a lot of work on hollow candles as they can be used over a long period of time without getting spoilt and are also cost effective.”
Priya adds, “Our specialisation is in customisation and personalisation and the fun part is when people share their family’s or friends complete life with us and expect us to capture everything on a candle — so we have made bikinis, beaches to trains and stations on a candle. We have a huge range of Christmas candles which are popular with the expats in our city and also locals. We also have a pet candle collection for dog lovers for Christmas.” The duo also makes cookies, cakes and muffins for pets that one can gift their pets or their pets friends this Christmas that they call Bone Appetite.
Akshaya Ravindra Babu: Growing up watching her grandma whip up amazing Indian sweet confections, Akshaya had that secret desire to make sweet confections. Is there one fancy incident that showed light towards making chocolates? “Not really,” she says, adding, “But many other incidents got me to make Sihi (which translates to sweet in Kannada) reminds me of her calling out to us whenever a Sihi Thindi was ready for us. I’m a biotechnology engineer and had immense opportunities, but this is where my passion lies and also food technology was one of the verticals of biotechnology, so I got registered for a certificate course in Mysore. I went further to get a professional chocolatier certificate from Ecole chocolat, a Canadian University. Soon after that, I mastered this craft of chocolate making in the world’s milk chocolate capital, Switzerland and am back in my home town Bengaluru with Sihi Chocolaterie to handcraft them on my own. I source some of the finest ingredients from across the world — dairy products from Switzerland, couvertures from Belgium and bring in my Swiss secrets. I’ve made cute little hampers for Christmas and have been hosting plum cake mixing events, to help our team unwind during this busy Christmas season.”
The young chocolatier is also making waves internationally. She showcased at the Chocolate Museum at Brixton, London at a historic Indian fine chocolate appreciation event held at the time of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit there. “L Nitin Chordia chief tasting officer at Cocoatrait had discussed with a few Londoners about showcasing what’s India up to on the fine chocolate space and approached me to develop south Indian flavoured chocolate bars. Indian flavours Coconut coriander and Amla chatpata were loved by all and I got many compliments for my innovate approach. For Christmas I’m whipping up many interesting flavours.”
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