“In cosmetics, beyond the nice envelope, values are important today”
- Serge and Audrey Narbais are two vintners behind the soap production project at Egina House. The couple launched the project in 2015 and the workshop and store are located in Baigorri. They use close and ecological raw materials in their products, make soaps, creams, balms and sell them in the nearby environment. In addition, they sell other cosmetic products made with the same philosophy, such as makeup. We wanted to know more about the project and its trajectory, interviewing Audrey Narbais.
Where did you get to the world of soaps?
Serge is the official accountant and I am the beautician. My self-taught career first led me to specialize in natural and plant cosmetics and then to cold saponification. I've always been interested in making raw raw materials cosmetics, like vegetable oils and butter, essential oils, beeswax, clay or aloe vera gel, because I think grandma has the best things to offer us. On the other hand, when I discovered cold saponification, I had a total conviction, because cold prepared soap is an ecological and economic product both in production and in use.
Don't you heat oil to make soaps?
That is, our manufacturing method is cold saponification, the same procedure that our grandmothers used in ancient times with wood ashes. We use oils and vegetable butters to manufacture soaps and with the cold method we keep all the natural properties of these raw materials, as they are not cooked or heated to high temperature.
Do you do the whole process in the workshop?
Yes, we have a workshop and a store in Baigorri, and there we do everything. Our intention is to stay small and handcrafted, which means that we want to work by hand, and this is almost the entire process in our case, except the soap emulsion mixer, a robot mixer for different cosmetic products and a small facial cream filling machine. Our workshop looks like a pastry shop!
Is the local and the eco-friendly increasingly visible in cosmetic products? What have you noticed during these years?
I can say that since I started 20 years ago in the cosmetics world things have changed a lot. In the past there was only an interest in conventional cosmetics, and cosmetic products were attractive for their labelling or packaging rather than for their content. Today, consumers are much more sensitive, and they also attach importance to quality and to proper consumer ethics in favour of small craftsmen. We perceive that there is a real desire for products made on the basis of values and ethics.
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