Our story
It started with a leaf on the ground.
In 2015 we set up a small factory in India to make plates from fallen areca palm leaves. We didn't just want to build a factory. We wanted work that would be good for the people doing it and for the land around us. Eleven years on, that's still how we try to run things. Argus is our factory, Simplyleaf is how we reach Europe, and it's the same people behind both.
How it started
In India, people have eaten from leaves since ancient times, and palm leaf tableware is part of that long tradition. But most fallen areca leaves were still treated as farm waste, burned or left to compost. When we started in 2015, we wanted to do our part: turn more of those leaves into something useful, and create fair, steady work for the people around us. It was important to us that this wasn't just something we said. So from our first year, we've opened our doors to BSCI audits of how we treat our team.
Factory exterior or production floor photo
How we've grown
2015
Our first audit
We opened the factory and became one of the first palm leaf makers in India to be BSCI audited. It mattered to us to get that right from the start.
2015
A first order from Europe
Our first European customer, and the sign that what we were making had a place there.
2017
Meeting people face to face
We travelled to INTERNORGA in Hamburg and INTERGASTRA in Stuttgart to meet the people who might one day use our plates.
2017
Our first wholesale partner
The first time we shipped by the container.
2020
One million plates a year
More orders meant more work for our team and more leaves from local farms.
2022
Getting the process right
We reworked and tested every step of production, so every batch turns out the way it should.
Today
Still a small team
Ten of us at the factory, and more than 12 million plates later.
Photo of leaf collection at a local farm
The people behind the leaves
Every plate begins on a farm near us. The leaves that farmers once burned as waste are now gathered by local collectors, and for many families that's a welcome income. At the factory we're a team of ten, and every plate passes through our hands before it leaves.
Why palm leaf?
Areca palms drop their leaves as they grow. Many of those leaves are still burned or left to rot. We collect them, clean them, and press them into shape with heat. That's all. No glue, no coating, nothing added. And when a plate has done its job, it still goes back to the earth, just a little later than it would have.
Areca palm leaves photo
What matters to us
The people. Fair work for our team, and a steady income for the families who collect our leaves.
The land. Using what nature already gives, and giving back something that breaks down.
The people we work with. Being honest and easy to reach. You'll always know who you're talking to.
The Simplyleaf and Argus team
Want to see how it's made?
Follow a leaf from the farm to the finished plate.