Perfect for those who find traditional Easter eggs a little hollow, we like to think beyond the shell and instead our Easter Eggs offer a generous serving of delicious organic chocolate truffles presented inside an exquisite keepsake shell. Many of our Booja-Booja fans also love our Easter eggs because they give something back to the community.

You see, to create these beautifully decorated eggs, for the last ten years, Booja-Booja has been working with Persian Dowery, a community of artisans in Kashmir, Northern India. The partnership supports their dying craft, by using a sustainable, eco-friendly and a community-based cooperative model, which helps as many families as possible.

Breathing life into a declining industry

However, the lack of tourists has led to a downturn in the value of the artistic industry, and more and more young people have turned to menial forms of labour that provide a steady and reliable income.

Since we have been working with Persian Dowery, we have together breathed life into the declining ancient industry of papier mache that has been passed down through generations of skilled artisans. When we began working together the younger generation in Kashmir was looking to other forms of work, but now that Persian Dowery employs and empowers the older generation of skilled artists to make a healthy living from their art, younger generations are being inspired to do apprenticeships under the guidance of these older more skilled artists. 

Helping those who are struggling in poverty

Persian Dowery grows every year and is able to reach more people who are struggling in poverty, and as it becomes widely known and awarded in its region for its success and ethics, many more people approach it, wishing to work for Persian Dowery. Continuing to work with Persian Dowery is a top priority for us, which is why we continue to sell our beautiful Kashmiri Easter Eggs and The Artist’s Collection range of chocolate gift boxes made by these talented artisans.

Surviving freezing Himalayan winters

Consideration of low-energy consumption goes into every detail of the operation, right down to maximising people’s ability to work from home. This is important during the freezing Himalayan winters, when families need to support themselves but have difficulty travelling to and from work in the heavy snow and cold weather conditions. During the frequent periods of civil unrest in the Kashmir region, Persian Dowery employees are also able to continue to work from home during crippling curfews when access to essential needs becomes difficult.

Persian Dowery works creatively to ensure that it can continue to supply people and support as many families as possible, even during these difficult periods when the vast majority cannot even go to work or maintain an income at all. This sustainable model means that people are able to work from home and stay with their families, and support each other in a more cooperative, community based way. Persian Dowery becomes part of the lives of the families of the people it employs, and assumes responsibility for caring for their essential needs in addition to giving them work.

So there you have it in an egg shell ... if you want to give differently this Easter, then the egg that keeps on giving is the perfect way to tick all the boxes.

WRITTEN BY

LOUISE C