ddp design fair

Japanese company Mizuiro Inc. and designer Naoko Kimura came together to work on its latest sustainable project for kids. Mizuiro Inc. — a manufacturer of plant-based stationery — developed Vegetable Crayon®, a proprietary technology that extracts useful materials from Japanese rice and discarded vegetables. Mizuiro Inc.  produces office stationery supplies and crayons for parents and children.

Oyasai Crayons, a crayon collection for kids, come in 20 different colors, including 10 shades made with natural pigments extracted from fruits and vegetables. The 10 colors of plant-based crayon are red, orange, purple, beige, green, brown, yellow, purple, light green and gray, which are made from fruits and vegetables including apple, carrot, purple potato, Japanese yam, leek, burdock, corn, cassis, bamboo and charcoal. Oyasai Crayons meet the JIS standard, which is an inspection that ensures a benchmark for crayon strength. They have earned the European standard toy safety EN71-3: 2013 certificate as a result of a strict safety inspection. The company has also received numerous design awards for the product.

Additionally, most of the crayons in the market are made of paraffin wax, which contains petroleum, and are unsafe for children if they accidentally eat them but also harmful to the environment as they are not biodegradable. Any parent with kids will know babies and toddlers put everything in their mouths. This is how Mizuiro Inc. first came up with the idea of “Oyasai Crayons”, both a stationery and a toy for children that is safe and harmless for human bodies and recycles discarded vegetables and fruits.

While all ingredients are food-grade and deemed safe and healthy for kids and adults as they are extracted from vegetables and fruits, they are not edible. It is a safer and more eco-friendly option for children to play with since crayon is a writing utensil that is in direct contact with children's bodies for a long time and a toy children is likely to put in their mouths.

© 2014-2021 Mizuiro Inc.