Jokes aside, why this craze for wax at Caliquo?

 

This idea has been on our minds for a long time: to continue using our bioplastic (made from castor starch - the plant), an innovative and sustainable material , to offer a new range of colorful eco-friendly toothbrushes.

Eco-friendly toothbrushes that make you want to brush your teeth just by looking at them!

Very quickly we thought of taking inspiration from wax fabrics recognizable by their bright patterns representing everyday objects, fauna, floral interlacing or even geometric shapes. And it is now done with:

 

Cultural minute: what are the origins of wax?

Contrary to what most people we asked around us think, wax is not, originally, an African fabric. And no! This fabric is first known and used in Indonesia.

This is Indonesian batik or Java batik .

Colonizers of Indonesia, it was the Dutch who allowed batik to arrive in Africa (in 1799, Holland had several colonies in Indonesia). In the 19th century, in order to "subdue" the Indonesian population, they recruited mercenaries in West Africa . When they returned home, these same mercenaries brought back batiks in their luggage . The success was total both in popular circles and within the aristocracy.

Sensing a good deal, the Dutch set up factories in their own country to produce these fabrics and flood the African market with their own fabric – even today, “Dutch wax” is very famous. The English soon followed suit.

It was not until the 1960s that Africans created their own factories.

Even though wax has been enriched with patterns specific to the different cultures of African peoples, we still find traces of Indonesian batik , particularly in geometric patterns.