In a modest home-based workshop, the craftspeople of Joca Orange turn ordinary leftovers into artistic, colorful jewelry pieces. Camilo Castellanos started Joca Orange, a small handcraft organization in Colombia. Joca Orange means natural – from the earth. Castellanos had past experience of creating products with different media, such as natural seeds, metal, textiles etc. He decided to use waste orange peels to create personal accessories such as bracelets, earrings, necklaces, key chains etc.

Availability of orange peels is a huge challenge to Joca Orange. They collect the peels from juice vendors and restaurants, and then distribute them to the artisan groups who use their imagination and creativity to create beautiful products. The artisans experiment by dyeing the orange peels in vibrant colors, and using a combination of other natural seeds such as acai and bombono to add to the beauty and uniqueness of the product.

Joca Orange is a 5 member team, and all the activities such as design, production, marketing and sales are divided between the 5 members. Joca Orange makes sure that they are paying fair wages to everyone involved in the process.

Joca Orange pays special attention to organizational needs such as product design, skill up- gradation and technical training to the artisan group. The organization is proud of its unique product and strives to maintain the demand for it in the market.

Joca, follows a special process to treat the discarded orange peels and to safeguard them from decay or decomposition. They have also managed to keep them fresh and the citrus fragrance intact. These properties make Joca Orange products unique to its buyers.