As a kid, Manya Cherrabudi would spend hours in her mother’s garden admiring the beautiful and bright colours of the flower.
Always attracted to creating art using nature, she would go on to convert this passion into a flourishing business.
Born and bought up in Hyderabad, 30-year-old Manya holds a dual degree in arts and business from the University of Virginia.
In 2019, Manya left her career in a design company to follow her heart and started experimenting with colours and nature, the result was a beautiful art form.
She used ingredients like fruits, vegetables, flowers, leaves, etc to make natural dyes and colours.
Manya decided to share her art by conducting workshops for people who want to learn how to make natural dyes and dye clothes.
In 2019, she took a natural dyes workshop called Colour Ashram in Goa which made her realise that she could make a career out of it.
Another reason why she wanted to spread this art form was to raise awareness among people to reduce the use of chemical dyes, which are harmful to the skin.
“The chemical dyes are cancer-causing and harmful to the environment. Whereas making natural dyes involve a sustainable process; even the residual water can be given to plants, so nothing goes to waste,” she explains.
“People who work in the [chemical dye] industry have health issues, and the land where it’s produced becomes infertile; the water bodies are polluted too. It is a whole cycle, and while it is hard to come out of it, it is not impossible,” she adds.
In a bid to promote this idea, Manya says she has not worn or bought anything dyed using chemicals ever since.
In 2020, she started hosting workshops under the name ‘Treehouse’. So far, she has taken over 150 workshops and taught over 5,300 students from all over the world.
“I don’t teach people this by preaching it but by introducing it in a fun and interactive way while they play with colours. Though there is a long way to go, I can only hope to aspire more and more people to switch to natural dyes,” remarks Manya.