Hyderabad: Flowers that are forever, with the aroma of memories – that is what Hyderabad-based entrepreneur and flower preservation scientist Mahalakshmi V Reddy is promising.
A former scientist with the Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Mahalakshmi has researched and come up with a commercial business model, which she calls Lyo Florals.
Using the concept of lyophilisation, the idea is to preserve the natural look and feel of any flower by dehydrating the moisture. Through the process, now patented by her, the flowers are revived, pre-treated and then sent into the lyophiliser, a machine that dehydrates flowers without tampering with their natural look.
“My mother was very fond of flowers and she used to take good care of them in our house. However, when the flowers used to get dried up she used to feel disheartened. This was one of the reasons why I got interested in developing this technology wherein you can preserve a flower for almost 20-25 years without its losing its natural state,” she said.
After researching on the subject for almost 18 years while working at the university, Mahalakshmi finally developed a fool-proof method, and post her retirement in 2016, started building the machine in her own house along with a small lab in the basement. “In five to six months, we were able to start Lyo Florals,” said Mahalakshmi.
Depending on the state the flower is given to her, Mahalaksmi determines the process and time it will take to preserve the flower. While she prefers that customers send the flower within a day of usage, if the flower has gone through some weathering, she will then surely try her best to revive and pre-treat them before sending them to the lyophiliser.
“If it is a fresh and small flower, it will take at least five days to preserve it. However, if the density of the flower is big, the process could go up to 12 or 13 days. The period of preservation varies depending on the type of flower. Other than getting flowers from customers, we also go and get some fresh flowers from nurseries to preserve them,” she added.
The preserved flowers are then mounted into unique 2D or 3D display cases made of glass, acrylic or wood. These can be given as a gift to a loved one or as used for gifting purposes in corporate companies.
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