The year 2019 has been described as "the year of the protest", and climate change is a hot topic on everyone's radar. Huge companies are trying hard to cut down on single-use plastic and most shoppers are making an active effort to shop much more mindfully, taking into account where their products came from, what they are made out of and who benefits (and who doesn't) throughout the production process.
One company who's caught the attention of Guide Me Malta is micro-processors Sapun ta' Malta, who hand-make delightful rustic soap with an abundance of yummy all-natural botanical and organically farmed ingredients sourced with utmost care and consideration, and made using old-fashioned methods. Their love for the natural aspect of the Maltese Islands is at the very core of what they do.
The products not only sound great, with ingredients like sea salt, freshly squeezed zesty lemon and wild honey, but they look good enough to eat too. They even come wrapped in 100% organic hand dyed and hand sewn designed-in-Malta bags. Now that makes a change from your regular plastic shower gel bottle!
We're all for sustainable living and trying to cut down on outdated consumer habits, and we also love a good old-fashioned pamper sesh, so we caught up with the team behind Sapun Ta' Malta to get the lowdown on all things small-batch soap! Here's what they had to share.
Hi team! We love the sound of your soaps and are totally into your message! Tell us, how did the brand start off?
"Sapun Ta’ Malta started with a simple but very strong human emotion: passion. Passion for the land, for the people, for history, identity and life in its good and bad. We wanted to slow time, to breath, to safeguard what we have from the past, the present and carry it into the future by creating an extremely simple product that is used by all people: a bar of soap. The focal point of the brand is in its name - Malta. The island of yellow stone, with thousands of years of history and human life."
What’s the brand ethos behind Sapun Ta' Malta?
"Humble, honest Maltese handmade soap."
Great stuff. How has the brand been received by the public?
"People are more conscious about the products they consume and source, including how such products affect the environment, society and the well-being of people locally and internationally. One of the blessings of being a Maltese, European-based brand is your access to the world at large and what it gives you in terms of stability, credibility and trust. The brand has been received well in Malta and abroad, not only due to the high quality of the soap being produced, but most of all due to the excellent Maltese raw material being used in the production of each soap."
"The backbone of our production as a Maltese hand-making soap brand is our Maltese suppliers - Maltese farming families, olive oil producers, honey extractors, self-employed people, carpenters, small family-owned businesses; these are normal, very hard working honest people, who despite various limitations due to size and economies of scale, are able to produce excellent raw material that can compete internationally."
Super admirable! What are your hopes for the brand?
"We are a micro-specialised brand that produces only handmade soap in a small village by the sea called Kalkara. We do not have any intention of expanding or diversifying our product range, or introducing new products, but to simply keep on producing better quality handmade soap."
"Our strongest hope is on a human level - to acknowledge the very hard work that our Maltese raw material suppliers perform over a 12 months period, in order to produce a bar of soap that they can be proud of. Nothing really compares to the spark of their eyes, their happiness and pride when they see a bar of soap made with material they have supplied and worked so hard and silently to produce."
"On a Maltese consumer level, we hope that more consumers will focus on locally produced products, not only be proud of them, but support them. Protection of small Island artisanal products should also be given more importance and protectionism on a European legislative level."
You focus on handmade production. How is the soap manufactured?
"The first very important step is sourcing of the raw material, which is done face to face. Usually, this is the most complicated part of our work due to various standards that we follow. The actual production of soap follows the good old Middle Eastern way of producing soap, which is considered a standard setting method in the soap-making world. Everything is done by hand, in a very slow method without application of heat. Once the soap is cut, it sits in climate-controlled rooms breathing from six months to one year before its ready for use and sale. All the soap range is produced in very small limited seasonal batches, when raw material is abundant and available. Once the season of lemon stops, we stop producing lemon soaps."
What materials and ingredients do you use, and what is your most popular soap so far?
"We use many Maltese-grown and produced raw material...olive oil, lemon, mint, honey, fresh milk, and various butters and oils sourced directly from small family owned plantations or cooperatives around the world. Most of our soap range is very simple and basic, unscented and uncoloured. Good quality soap should never be masked."
"Soap choice is a very personal, individual choice, depending on mood, state of mind, needs, wants...We can not say that Mgarr lemon soaps are more popular than Zebbug sheep milk soaps; each has its own soul, each has its own voice. They all have Maltese names and are named after various ingredients or different people. For example, we have one called Naghiegh, meaning mint, and a goat milk one called Nannu Elia after the owner's Maltese great- grandad."
"One of our latest bars, Kalkara from our vegan range is proving very popular. It is made with 100% fresh extra virgin handpicked Maltese olive oil, Organic Turkish Laurel Berry Oil and organic hand picked pacific organic virgin coconut oil. No one in the world is using this combination!"
Lastly, where can you buy Sapun Ta’ Malta for all those who are (quite rightly!) interested?
"We stock our range at CamilleriParisMode in Rabat, Vincent’s Eco Estate in Mgarr, The Veg Box in Manikata, Hames Sensi in Fgura and Salt & C in Ta' Xbiex."
Thanks Sapun Ta' Malta! We'll definitely be getting our hands on a bar of gorgeous handmade Maltese soap!