A J P Nagar resident is making jewellery out of breast milk and marketing it on social media.
Namitha Naveen launched a line of jewellery keepsakes that also uses hair, nails, milk teeth and even the umbilical cord. She calls it Mumma’s Milkytale.
A mother of two, Namitha wanted to make a keepsake for herself after her son was born. “When I was breastfeeding him, I got the idea of making jewellery out of mother’s milk. I have an MSc in biotechnology, and it took me eight months to come up with a formula to preserve the milk,” she told Metrolife.
When she realised the concept was new to Bengalureans, she decided to launch her own business in 2019.
Some love the idea, while others find it bizarre. “We get at least 50 inquiries every day. Only one to two of them turn into orders,” she says.
The process of crafting a piece of jewellery takes her about a week, after she gets the material from her customers.
“Once I get the sample, I cure and dry it to turn it into powder. I add a variety of chemicals and toxins to kill off the bacteria and preserve it. I then put the cured samples in moulds requested by the customer,” she explains.
She has seen an increase in demand for jewellery made out of the umbilical cord, known to have spiritual significance in Indian culture.
“We either crush it and add it to the jewellery or we make pendants where a piece of the umbilical cord is floating in a glass ball. The curing process is similar for this as well,” she says.
As every sample of breast milk or human DNA is different, each product is unique in its own way, she says.
Namitha runs her business mainly through social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and currently has close to 10,000 followers. A customised keepsake is priced between Rs 1,300 and Rs 3,500, and it is made with silver and coated with gold.
“These are basically mementoes for parents. For nursing mothers, it is a way to celebrate their breastfeeding journey. It shows their emotional and physical bond,” she says. Namitha can be contacted on @Mumma’s Milkytale on Facebook and Instagram.