Hyderabad: As the concern over sustainability and the preservation of nature grows, a group of students in Hyderabad aims to reduce the use of real flowers for decorative purposes replacing them with artificial ones.
The artificial flower business called ‘Everlasting Blossoms’ was initiated by Shahnaz Ansari, Mohammed Azmath and Mariya Begum who are students of Class 7 at the Kurmaguda Academy for Relief and Education (KARE) school in Hyderabad.
Elaborating on the initial idea Azmath said, “The idea originated from an art exhibition held at our school a few months ago. One of our teachers assigned us sustainability and nature and gave us a basic understanding of the theme.”
He and his co-founders noticed that a lot of flowers being used for decorative and gifting purposes were disposed of eventually; hence they decided to create artificial flowers through glaze papers and ribbons.
“I focus on creating flowers through glaze papers, It takes about 10 minutes to create one flower each. A single flower costs Rs 5 and a bouquet containing eight flowers costs Rs 20,” Shahnaz told Siasat.com.
Explaining the process of making flowers through ribbons, Mariya said, “It takes about 10-15 minutes to twist the ribbons into different shapes depending on the flowers we want to create. Once these are ready and a fragrance is applied, it gives an impression of real flowers.”
The students said that they initially created the artificial flowers for an art exhibition in the school in Hyderabad, However, motivation from elders and teachers prompted them to turn it into a business idea.
Explaining the idea behind the name of the business, the students said that one of the teachers suggested the name. The students believe that replacing natural flowers with artificial ones will help preserve nature and help the city of Hyderabad.
“When decorative purposes can be fulfilled through artificial flowers, why should we disturb nature and generate waste which is avoidable?” Shahnaz said.
“When we were creating the flowers for the exhibition our parents showed some interest in the project and helped us. Once we put up our stall, we received appreciation from visitors who had come from different parts of Hyderabad and were interested in buying,” Mariya said.
Based on the success of the exhibition, the school principal asked the students to create flowers for an exhibition at the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad. The trio presented a bouquet to the dean of ISB, who was impressed by the creativity and motivated them to take the art forward.
“When we presented a bouquet to the dean, he appreciated our work and motivated us to create more such things. The students at ISB shared tips with us for converting the idea into a full-fledged business,” Mariya said.
The students say they strike a balance between their studies and leisure, with their parents monitoring and supporting them. Azmath mentioned that he focuses on his studies during weekdays and spends weekends learning new flower-making designs
Shahnaz and Mariya said they are willing to develop a large scale business and aspire to pursue a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in the future. “Currently, our relatives and neighbours are keen to buy these flowers from us and the sales are steady. However, we hope to transform this into a fully grown business,” Shahnaz said.
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