July 2011: Christelle Munnelly, Moon Root Soaps
If you think about it, you can see a person’s various passions reflected in their artwork all through the booths at Saturday Market. You might not think that a thing like soap could even be considered art, much less represent more than simple cleanliness, but Christelle Munnelly’s Moon Root Soaps are indeed artful and passionate, beautiful bars with lovely labels and lush aromas. A life long knitter, a passionate cook, a believer in the importance of sustainable practices, Christelle brings all these interests to her products.
Christelle is a self taught soap maker, learning techniques and recipes from books. She is always experimenting with new recipes, new “flavors,” and new styles. Her line includes not just bar soap, but aromatic mists, massage oils, shaving soap, body butters, laundry soap and her new “Soap in a Scarf.”
Soap in A Scarf is where her fiber artist side comes out to play... These are bars of soap covered in felted wool, a bar of soap and wash rag all in one! She sources the wool locally, dyes it naturally with plants and felts it herself.
Her love of cooking, and eating, is evident once you start looking at the soap “flavors.” Licorice Stripe, Carrot Cake, Almond Ginger, Orange Cocoa Swirl, Rosemary, Coffee, Green Tea, and the list goes on. All are made with essential oils and herbs that she grows in her own garden whenever possible.
Her sustainable practices are thorough too, sourcing as many raw materials as possible locally, packaging in recycled paper, and delivering her products by bicycle or biodiesel powered car.
The Moon Root Soaps booth itself is beautifully color coordinated - the sheer wall fabrics and table covers match the nice labeling (designed by her partner Robin). If you take a careful look, you’ll see that this is another one of those booths where the owners need to work around a major obstruction in the form of big concrete rain catchments. When the weather is nice, the one in front can be covered with a display table and you don’t even notice it.
You can find Christelle’s beautiful booth and her delicious soaps in booth space 165, at the edge of the covered area on the Fountain block of the Market. Stop by for a delicious experience! If you can’t make it to Market in person, you can find her products locally at The Kiva, Capella, Sundance and Friendly Street Market, and at moonrootsoaps.com.
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