Christmas trees made of teak, crochet snowmen and Kondapalli reindeer — Christmas decor has a focus on sustainability this year. A host of start-ups are bringing in festive cheer with handcrafted decorations, while supporting local artisans across the country.
At Sankalp Art Village in Pedagadi, about 46 kilometres from Visakhapatnam, a team of artisans is busy chiselling wood for tiny Christmas trees. In another corner, a team of women apply lacquer to the trees. This production centre, which makes sustainable wooden toys supports a dozen artisan families who are reviving traditional handicrafts of Andhra Pradesh.
“Orders are pouring in from various cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Visakhapatnam for wooden Christmas décor. This year we have received a lot more queries for sustainable Christmas décor, especially for children’s toys like detachable trees,” says Jameelya Akula, creative design head of Sankalp Art Village.
The design and dimensions, in most cases, are given by clients. They are then executed by the artisans of Sankalp. “There is a lot more emphasis on open-ended wooden toys and activities around the Christmas theme,” she adds.
Visakhapatnam-based Coos and Woos has designed a Christmas box for children, which includes seven crochet décor items and two wooden products.
“A lot of thought has gone into designing the products to ensure that that there is enough scope for a child to engage with the things. We believe that the material you offer have to be more passive in order to stimulate the child’s senses actively,” says Sindhu Dosapati, co-founder of Coos and Woos.
An ankudu tree
The Christmas tree design, Sindhu says, is particularly unique. “We had static trees earlier. But when I saw my three-year-old daughter not engaging much with it, I realised we had to do it differently,” she adds. With research and permutation and combinations on the sizes as well as colours, she came up with lacquer painted detachable trees made of ankudu wood ( Wrightia tictoria ). These come in different sizes and can be played in many ways.
“The ankudu wood was used to ensure that the product is light for a child to use effectively and at the same time, durable,” she adds.
Coos and Woos was founded by Sindhu and Rochashmathi Baisetty about four months ago with the objective of offering handcrafted and open-ended toys for children.
The Christmas box contains a crochet tree, Santa Claus, bells, décor balls and a crochet snowman made by women-led self-help groups in a village near Vijayawada and in Hyderabad.
Bengaluru-based Lattooland’s Christmas kit is a combination of S.T.E.M, sensory and art activities. The kit has been designed to include multiple elements of Christmas.
It comes with 3D puzzles of Santa Claus, Christmas trees, reindeer and sleigh, with varying levels of difficulty. “The emphasis is on enhancing the visual recognition for children and helping them learn how to create complex 3D objects using simple 2D pieces,” says Khushboo Saraf, founder of Lattooland.
The kit includes paints to add a dash a dash of colour to the 3D objects. “The highlight of the kit is the taste-safe and chemical free ‘snow’ made with flour and other food grade materials to give kids a multi-sensorial experience. The kit also includes DIY material to create a bunting of stars, to help kids develop threading skills. And of course, there is a bonus Santa stocking and a letter to Santa!
“With children sitting at home and exposed to gadgets, parents are turning towards the idea of ‘less is more’ and shifting toward sustainable and eco-friendly toys,” says Nishant Verma of Yellohippo, a Faridabad-based enterprise dealing with Montessori-aligned toys.
Yellohippo’s Christmas box brings together many stories that families can sit together and share. Toys in it include a wooden Christmas tree and felt hangings for decor. “The box contains flash cards with which you can create your own story of Santa and adventures of Christmas,” adds Nishant. The wooden toys and crafts are from Channapatna, Murabadabad and Bihar.
Montessori toys
Toyroom’s Wobbly Santa, launched this year for Christmas, is a fun take on the Montessori concept of the balancing moon toy.
“This is guaranteed to bring squeals of laughter. Santa comes carrying so many gifts that he finds it hard to balance them! It is a popular Montessori toy to develop cognitive and motor skills in a child,” says Ruchi Shaikh, founder of Toyroom. The brand supports 30 artisans across India and uses recycled cardboard boxes and paper cushions for packaging its products.
Go DIY
“This year, apart from handcrafted décor and activities, there is a demand for eco-friendly DIY Christmas ornaments. We have a kit that comes with 50 tree slices, with smoothened surfaces to draw on. It also comes with a ball of yarn and felt pens with which kids can draw, colour and customise their Christmas ornaments,” says Ruchi.
Toyroom’s Santa Comes Home initiative makes gifting fun. “We have gotten together with 10 other women-led small, sustainable brands that have Christmas offerings for kids and have curated a fun Christmas shop at its website. If you are based in Bengaluru, we will get Santa to hand deliver the gift to the kids,” says Ruchi.
Kochi-based Ahavah’s Christmas kit includes a collection of five Channapatna toys — a snowman, Christmas tree, bell, angel and ball, hand-stitched star and candy cane, and a wood slice hanging.
“We work with 30 artisan communities and NGOs across India,” says Roshini John, co-founder of Ahavah, adding “During the pandemic, we have seen a lot more people inclining towards sustainable décor for Christmas and supporting small businesses.”
