Student start-up decks up colleague's wedding venue with water hyacinth-based creations

Alappuzha: Fashion and innovation intertwined beautifully as EichhoTech, a student startup associated with the SD College Alappuzha, showcased its creativity during a colleague's wedding celebration in Alappuzha on Sunday.

Lakshmi K Babu, a member of a college student start-up specializing in producing and distributing value-added products from water hyacinth couldn't have wished for anything different on her special day. Her team adorned the entire venue with this material.

The event, which took place at her ancestral house in Vayalar, was an occasion for these youngsters, who have won both national and international acclaim for their creations made from water hyacinths, to showcase their creativity. From the wedding invitations to the name board of the bride and the groom and even the figure of Lord Ganesha embellishing the venue, everything was meticulously crafted from water hyacinth.

Lakshmi, daughter of Babu and Bindu Babu, tied the nuptial knot with Arun, a resident of Vettakkal near Alappuzha. A post-graduate alumna of the Zoology department at SD College Alappuzha, Lakshmi is a member of the consortium spearheaded by Anoop Kumar V, CEO of EichhoTech, the pioneering student start-up.

Her previous achievements include garnering attention for her portrait of the esteemed lyricist Vayalar Ramavarma, drawn on a unique canvas made of water hyacinth, which she presented to his son Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma on the late lyricist's death anniversary. Earlier in January this year, Lakshmi also presented the Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammad Khan, with a special embroidery work featuring his name delicately stitched with thin water hyacinth fibres during a meeting at the Kerala Raj Bhavan.

Hailing from a traditional coir worker family, Lakshmi's wedding preparations also brought together women from three generations. Alongside Lakshmi and her mother Bindu, her grandmothers Shanta and Vilasini collaborated to collect and process the water hyacinth required for the venue decorations, with additional help from cousins.

"Using their expertise in coir making, we converted the water hyacinth fibre into a rope form and used the same for making the Lord Ganesha idol and to decorate the venue," explained Anoop Kumar.

It was Anoop Kumar, who had earlier helped the bride’s family design and prepare wedding invitations on papers made of water hyacinths. Bridegroom Arun and his family also wholeheartedly supported Lakshmi's innovative concept, adding to the joyous occasion.

"Lakshmi is very creative and has practised what she preaches. The family has presented their traditional skill through a new medium and we are hopeful that this will set a new model," said Prof G Nagendra Prabhu, the Principal Investigator of the Centre for Research on Aquatic Resources and the HOD of the Department of Zoology, who mentors the student start-up.