We grew up on the good ol’ Camlin wax crayons — a box of basic 12 shades that brought us joy. If you were privileged, you’d get a box with 24 shades with the bonus ‘skin’ shade in it. Sketch pens were only for bordering. And still, the art class in school was our favourite. It opened our hearts to imagine and create. That’s the power of art. These days, art kits include a plethora of colours — oil pastels, crayons, colour pencils, glitter shades, sketch pens and what not. So when we came across Azafran’s plant-based crayons, we thought it to be a marketing gimmick. The back of the package had a long check list that read — clinically tested, baby-safe, hypoallergenic;  non-toxic, plant-based ingredients; food grade and baby-safe colour pigments; no parabens, sulphates, mineral oils or artificial fragrance. But would it pass the childrens’ test?

We tried out three of their products. The organic block crayons (a rainbow of 16 colours packed in a slider box at R499) looked like colourful marzipans one may quickly pop in their mouths, except that they are made of coconut oil, soy wax, organic palm, food grade colours and do not smell inviting. They do glide on the paper like knife through butter though.