In the Buddhist nation of
Sri Lanka, flowers signify the impermanence of life. Their highest purpose is
to be presented as an altar offering. But due to the high volume of daily
worshippers, these flowers offered at temple altars get discarded within minutes.
This results in millions of such fresh flowers offered at temples getting wasted
daily.
By extracting the pigment
contained in these temple flower offerings, we created Petal Paint. A range of safe, long-lasting paints and used
them for the creation and restoration of temple art. The paint was extracted in five colours -
blue, yellow, red, white and orange - which represent
the 5 colors of the halo that emanated from the Buddha when he attained
enlightenment. Through Petal Paint, flowers at temples
offered have now gained a new purpose beyond a single offering and making
them live forever on temple walls, in an eternal incarnation that will never
fade away.