A fragrant passion

Ria Ivan who owns the boutique, 'Soap and Hope', brings an artistic touch to soap-making  

Photos by Albin Mathew 

By Shevlin Sebastian  

When her aunt Mary walked into Ria Ivan’s ninth-floor flat, at Kochi, and glanced at the dining room table, she said, “Mole (Daughter), you have made such beautiful halva.” 

Ria laughed when she heard that. She said, “Aunty, it’s not halva, but soaps.” 

Mary did a double-take and came close and held one in her hand. Then she said, “Unbelievable, Ria. I have not seen a soap like this.” 

Indeed, not many people have. Because Ria has designed them in the form of mermaids, pastries, flowers, angels, and candles. 

Asked how she got the idea, Ria says, “All soaps look normal and ordinary in the markets in India. So I thought why not make some which are attractive to people? So I decided to mix art and soap. That's how it started.”  

Ria has made two types: body range as well as souvenir soaps. “The souvenir soaps will not get spoiled unless water falls on it,” she says. “It can stay intact for a long time.” 

Recently, she got an order for the birthday party of her friend Shobha’s child. “Shobha called up and said her son wanted an Avenger-theme soap,” says Ria. “So I made Thor and Captain America and embedded the models in the soap. The boy was very happy when he received it. It was as if his favourite characters had suddenly come alive.”  

The Avenger soaps can be used as a handwash till the toy comes out or it can be used as a showpiece. “Most people prefer to use it to get a feel of its organic nature,” says Ria. 

Another friend Tincy is going to have a Noah's Ark themed party. “So they wanted animals,” says Ria, who is planning to make hippos, lions, and bears.

Asked how she gets the design, Ria says there are moulds for that. There is also something called soap dough. “The advantage of this dough is that we can mould it into any shape we want,” she says.   

For each soap, there is a distinctive fragrance. These include rose, lavender, water lily, . mango, blueberry, cherry, sandalwood, cedarwood, coffee, and aloe vera. 

As for her usable soaps, she says they are sulphate and paraben-free. One has an organic loofah embedded in it. “It is very good for the exfoliation of our skin,” says Ria. In other soaps, there are oats, cloves, cinnamon, honey and clay. There is also a massage soap made of moringa leaves. “There is a moringa tree in my parents’ garden in Pala,” says Ria. “I dried and powdered the leaves. It also has a lot of skin benefits so I thought why not incorporate it in a soap?” 

What is unusual about Ria is that she has an M Tech in nutritional biotechnology from SRM University, Chennai. A university topper, she was working as a researcher in the Kuwait Institute For Scientific Research. “I didn't find any joy in the lab,” says Ria, who grew up in Kuwait. “Cooking, arts, counselling and motivational speaking are what makes me happy.”  

But she has no regrets about her education. “Information and knowledge are always useful,” she says. 

Her boutique is called ‘Soap and Hope’ and she is all excited to develop her new passion. 

Or as she says, “I really enjoy making soaps and I put my soul into it and it's made with a lot of love and happiness.”  

And she also has another aim. “I also hope that, through my example, other women will follow their passion and create self-employment opportunities for themselves.”

(The New Indian Express, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram)