Why we love...Norwich Soap Company
We love stocking and collaborating with local brands and Norwich Soap Company is one of them! Having stocked their soaps for several months we thought you should get to know them better!
TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF.
We are The Norwich Soap Company, an independent micro soapery started in the heart of Norwich in April 2022 by co-owners Gerhard and Leigh-Anne. Our aim is to create a soap that uplifts and inspires, and to provide a product that promotes calm, wellbeing and happiness. In this busy world, who couldn't do with more of that! We create our soap bars with the best ingredients possible. For example, we use Honest Toil's unblended, unfiltered, cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. With an acidy of 0.3%, this means it is among the purest extra virgin olive oils available. Hand picked, sustainably produced and distributed. And that is just one of the incredible ingredients used to make our special soap bars.
WHAT MADE YOU SET UP YOUR OWN BUSINESS? (& Where can we find you?)
During lockdown, Gerhard spent a lot of time refining his soap recipes and techniques. Needless to say, our family and neighbours had no complaints about the endless supply of free soaps! We didn't imagine that we'd ever have a shop and start a business of our own, until the shop on Magdalen Street became available. It was perfect, in the sense that it has a tiny basement where we started production from. Most industrial units were out of our reach, so this seemed the best option, with the added benefit of a lovely little shop on a street filled with incredible fellow independent small businesses. We are also available online, through Jarrolds Store Folk, at St Giles Pantry and Ernies Zero Waste Shop.
WHO IS PART OF YOUR TEAM?
We're a team of TWO! Gerhard and Leigh-Anne do everything from production, sales and marketing, finance, admin, social media, customer service, procurement... we wear many hats! And have learnt, and continue to learn, so much along the way! Both of us have full time jobs in addition to our passion for making great soap!
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?
We're only in our second year of business, and have found it interesting to see how the business is evolving. This year we've started some amazing collaborations, not only with The Garnet, but also creating oat soaps with Norwich Porridge and coffee soaps with The Hope Coffee Company. We're enjoying the process! Long term, we hope to expand into an industrial unit at some stage to give us more room for production, which would assist us in expanding our offering.
WHAT'S THE BEST THING ABOUT THE AREA YOU LIVE IN?
We love living in Norwich! We are both from South Africa and came to Norwich in 2017/2018. We live in NR3 and love the hustle and bustle of Magdalen Street and St Augustines. It's great being within walking distance to the city centre. Our favourite walk is along the Wensum River, past St James Mill, Cow Tower along to Riverside. You don't have to go far to find something beautiful in Norwich! Whether it's the Cathedral, Norwich Castle or Elm Hill. Norwich really is a great city to live in and we're so happy to have made it our home. The community support has been amazing, and without our lovely customers we wouldn't be here! Thank you to you for your support, we really appreciate it.
Find Norwich Soap company soaps in store and online now