Recently, the team at Colour Changing were lucky enough to travel all the way to India!

Our inks and pigments are formulated from ingredients found around the globe. So, on a mission to expand our range—we headed to a country famed for its rich culture and beautiful, vibrant pigments.

We have travelled to many places, but India certainly is the most striking, and one that ticks all our colourful boxes.

The people—with their smiles and laughter—the food, and of course, the colours, ensured there was always something to captivate our minds and inspire us. We explored stunning temples, enchanting pink and blue cities and a myriad of shops piled high with fragrant spices.

The highlight our of trip fell during one of India’s largest celebrations. Every year, the holy city of Varanasi hosts Holi: the festival of colour.

On Holi morning, we were woken by the distant call of morning prayer, and enticing smelling spices being used to prepare our traditional breakfast. Once up and ready, we were greeted by our guide for the day: Mr Remesh, a young man with a broad smile and an experimental, but charming cockney accent. We followed him down a winding marble staircase, through a cool and dark lobby, to a set of large, ornate wooden doors. Mr Remesh unbolted them, revealing a Varanasi almost unrecognisable to the one we’d arrived in the previous day.

We were immediately surrounded by an exuberant group of children carrying handfuls of bright pigments. Beyond, every building and person among the hundreds that filled the streets, were covered in an explosion of colour. The city rung with the joy of uncontrollable laughter amid the chaos of colour that is Holi.

As we stood there, nervously taking in this visual cacophony, each child unloaded their powder in our direction, coating us from head to toe.

We ran down the narrow streets, searching for shelter, weaving our way past countless tightly packed market stalls selling an incredible array of pigment, including some of our favourites, such as fluorescent, metallic, glow in the dark, colour flip and colour changing.

After we headed home, laden with a rainbow bounty and stories to tell, we gained a newfound appreciation for this extraordinary country. We can’t wait to return.

Tell us—have you ever been to India? What was your favourite memory?

Have you ever been to the Holi Festival? What was your experience?