About me
The Cold Process
There is a beautiful chemical reaction that turns a fat and an alkali into salts of fatty acids, or soap. I use vegetable oils and butters and sodium hydroxide.
Temperature, precision and right timing are of the essence, especially in the first minutes of life of a soap. About 90% of the saponification happens in the first 2 days; the remaining 10%, in the following weeks of curing, when the soap rests, releasing humidity and hardening up.
The Choices
The choice of the oils and butters, each of which gives the soap different properties: hardness, color, cleansing, conditioning and lather production.
The choice of the essential oils is about much more than choosing a scent for the soap.
The choice of the design and the techniques to achieve it.
The choice of the additives: clays, botanicals, plants infusions, dried herbs, oil infusions, micas, etc.
Each choice influences the other choices, sometimes in beautifully unpredictable ways.
Inspiration
Online soapmakers groups are an endless source of learning and inspiration but, more often, I get inspired by a mood or a situation or a picture. Other times I have no clear idea why I get to a certain soap, but when I look at the final bars, the inspiration reveals itself.
The act of washing one's own hands and body, as an act of self-care, reconnects us with what really matters: our body (holistically, body as mind too). This idea constantly renews my enthusiasm and interest in making new soaps.
Lastly, I like to think of my soaps as little bathroom 'pieces'. They are useful and, I want to think, joy-inducing. Sharing my soaps with other people is a precious reward.
The Lab
My lab is my kitchen. Most of the botanicals I use come from my garden: I try to stay as local as possible with raw materials and additives. I like to work alone, nevertheless I am surrounded and supported by my friends. Thank you so much, Nik, for the amazing illustrations on the site and Ichmarah, for the beautiful logo! Thanks Kiki, my biggest fan and supporter since the beginning, and Emilio, for your patience and love.
LaNormaTraviata
LaNormaTraviata is inspired by the 1976 play La Traviata Norma ovvero: vaffanculo ...ebbene sì! (La Traviata Norma or: fuck you ...well yes!). It is the first queer play in the Italian scene of the politically active (meta)theatre. In a dis/utopian society where homosexuality is the Norm, a group of homosexuals awaits the start of a 'heterosexual play'. While waiting, they entertain themselves with reflections and monologues about the heterosexual man. "La Traviata Norma" is a pun that uses the name of two Italian operas (Verdi's Traviata and Bellini's Norma) which together mean the corrupted norm. Poetic and politic. The play was first performed by the 'Collettivo Nostra Signora dei Fiori', an autonomous group that advocated a 'Queer Communist Utopia'. A member of this collective, Mario Mieli, was a queer activist who gained public visibility throughout the 70s. He challenged the "Norm", while advocating for the corrupted norm – "La Traviata Norma". Mieli wrote the first queer manifesto in Italy, which had a big impact on me.
