Adiv Pure Nature handwoven silk scarf dyed with marigolds and fern. Created as part of Adiv’s Temple Blessings Project, the marigold flowers used to dye this scarf were collected as floral waste discarded from local temples and shrines in Mumbai, India. The 100% ecologically-sustainable process created by Adiv Pure Nature to adorn textiles epitomize design innovation and environmental stewardship.
Every day, across India, millions of people go to temples to leave puja offerings of fragrant fruits and flowers to the gods. In Mumbai, for example, Siddhivinayak, a Ganesh temple, is one of largest and busiest temples in all of India, collecting around 300-500 kg of floral offerings each day. Hindu custom dictates that these offerings be returned to water, and the waste is dumped into the sea or nearby river. The volume of floral waste is significant enough to cause sea pollution, literally choking waterways near the temples.
In 2008, Rupa Trivedi, the founder of Adiv Pure Nature, was inspired to do something about this waste. She, and her team of self-taught urban artisans, began collecting floral waste to use as dyestuffs from small nearby temples. Because dyeing is a water-based process, using flowers for dyeing satisfied the ritual requirement that these offerings return to water. Roses, Coconut husks, hibiscus flowers and the marigolds, blessed, then cast-off as waste, are full of dye potential and yielded the most beautiful prints and colors. Soon she realized she would need larger amounts of floral waste and by 2012 forged an official agreement with Siddhivinayak to collect around 40-80kgs per day. Our collection bags contain an assortment of marigolds, hibiscus, small quantities of rose and coconut husks offered at the temple. Recently Adiv added floral blessings cast-off from Peer Haji Ali Dargah, an iconic Mosque in the middle of the sea in central Mumbai, to the dye materials used at the studio. The offerings collected there are mostly red roses that are interlaced with white lilies. The roses are picked up twice a week and the quantities vary between 30 to 50 kgs .
The precious blessings from all our sacred sources embody a universal sanctity; a sense of calming serenity and positive energy that translates onto the cloth with the dyeing. These beautiful blessings taken together truly add new meaning to our repertoire of breath-taking textiles.
