‘Senteurs’, in French, signifies ‘Fragrance’. This name was given by The Mother to the perfumery department of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, which started in 1958. Udar Pinto and Kusum worked for it. Kusum dedicated herself to this new venture, which demanded patience, hard work, knowledge and a nose to create. With Mother’s grace and guidance the department grew in time and today it is one of the most visited and appreciated boutiques in Pondicherry.
Weaving Department
Hand-weaving is the method of forming a pliable plane of threads by interlacing them rectangularly: the process of passing the weft between taut, alternately raised warps, as in the basic weave, or between other selected warps, and pressing it into place. One of the most ancient of crafts, hand-weaving still survives today because of the innovation that it allows in design. Hand-weaving began in the Ashram in 1940.
Aurofurn
Aurofurn is a unit of the Mother’s Centenary Memorial Trust.
Beauty is the Divine language in forms. It is with this inspiration that Auroform began in 1975 as a unit which designs buildings, interiors, and produces high-quality furniture.
Marbling Group
The marbling of paper is an ancient art first practised in Japan in the ninth century. Completely realised by hand, it consists in producing certain patterns and effects by means of colours on water. A piece of paper or silk is laid on the water, so that the flowing patterns get imprinted on it. The marbling unit in the Ashram started as a hobby in 1965.
Auro Pharma
Auro Pharma is founded by Prof. (Dr.) R.V.K. Rao and Prof. (Dr.) Mrs. Vimala Devi with the main motto of providing an alternative system of medicine with the help of natural resources to mitigate ill-health particularly with the ever increasing global awarness of the side-effects of the synthetic drugs.