SO, HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN?

Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, our founder Amanda Murphy ended up in Thirumangalam in the late 80s after coming out to India as a volunteer on behalf of The Body Shop UK. While she was here, she grew close to the local community and saw that there was a huge lack of jobs and educational opportunities available for them.

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Upon meeting a group of carpenters here, she realised something: they could make use of the abundant Acacia Mangium trees in the local area and come up with some type of wooden product, which she could then try to market to The Body Shop. Together with the carpenters, she developed a wooden massager and took samples back to The Body Shop's headquarters in Littlehampton. There, she successfully pitched the idea and secured our first order of 10,000 massage rollers, and the rest is history!

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To watch a short video about us and our long-standing relationship with The Body Shop, see below.

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Photo: Amanda (right) with Anita Roddick DBE (founder of The Body Shop UK, left) and some of the first Teddy School children.