Home-made remedies glinting in bottled jars are an integral part of Indian culture, and it was a childhood spent in watching her mother concoct these wonderful herbal remedies that motivated Sunita Jaju to create Rustic Art. The organic & natural skincare company procures most ingredients locally to make its products, is energy and water efficient and holds the environment as its favourite customer/beneficiary.

A Post Graduate course in Sustainable Development shook Sunita Jaju to promote and replicate the craft of homemade natural alternatives to the commercial space. Months of trial and error in sunlight and rainstorms passed and Sunita Jaju’s self-tested and formulated formulas replaced bottles of masala in her lab-kitchen. Rustic Art aims to bring vegan, cruelty free methods to the market while empowering the locals through employment and awareness.

Process: Their artsy soaps and locally packaged washable products are designed to consume as little water as possible while in use. Vegetable oils, herbs etc. are processed and converted into salts which make their range of soaps including handwash, bodywash and facewash. The curing process is time consuming and can take up to two-months for most of their products, with the exception of a few shampoos and oils. Oil is a key player in their business but is procured as sustainably as nature allows. The newest pet shampoo bar has been made using essential oils that are suitable to pet dogs and their heightened senses. Rustic Art centres its core focus on water efficient, vegan, healthy, alternatives that take from nature without any abuse.

Rustic Not Rusty: Unlike other manufacturers none of the products have to endure the chemical or mechanical process, and the use of machinery is rare. Rustic Art’s manual process ensures zero /minimal electricity that is further powered by the factory’s solar panels. It is the workforce that manually fills in the products including packaging, eliminating the need for machinery. The process is a long-drawn one and the curing of material takes up to two months. Most of their material is procured from in and around Satara to reduce their carbon footprint and the rest is done manually. Their core focus is on using as little or no water as possible.

Conservation and empowerment are the offered combination and Rustic Art’s menstrual cups have been popularised among the local women. Sunita Jaju and daughter Surabhi also organise monthly sessions where they speak to the staff, their families and womenfolk to promote sustainable practices and methods detrimental to our health. The locals are educated on waste segregation and how to live in tandem with nature, a lesson many have taken with a positive streak. Rustic Art lives and breathes to promote conscious consumerism and a lifestyle that is first healthy to the environment, then the consumers.