The Everyday Made Sacred
Organic Soap and Glass Plinth
Edition of 100 by Joy Bonfield-Colombara with Dina Foods, Lola Lazaro-Hinks and Saboon Alee
Organic soap inspired by the importance of everyday routines, from washing ones hands to a cup of something hot and a taste of something sweet.
Sale Price £6.00
Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Sunflower Seed Oil, Shea Butter, Apricot Kernel Oil, Cocoa Butter, Vanilla Essential Oil
80mm x 60mm x 30mm
Joy Bonfield-Colombara
Preciousness is relative. How we perceive the value of an object, an artwork and even an everyday ‘thing’ depends on how we are taught to look at it. As a direct reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic, I began to look at how simple daily routines, which were once overlooked, became of the utmost importance to us all in 2020 and 2021. One was hand washing and the other was a tea break with something sweet.
To elevate the act of washing one’s hands, I wanted to make an artwork that presented a luxury soap bar in an elaborate and fantastical manner. My design includes a sculptural plinth to proudly present the soap. The glass sculpture, made by the glass artist Lola Lazaro Hinks, is suggestive of pouring liquid. Its wavy ‘ripples’ are both a nod to running water and tea pouring.
The soap bar is based on the shape of a Lebanese baklawa made by Dina Foods in Park Royal. Baklawa is a layered cake, which includes buttery pastry, filled with a variety of nuts such as pistachio, drizzled with sugar syrup. It is a jewel of a dessert. The bar is wrapped with a poem written by a member of the Dina Foods family, who has been making baklawa in London since 1992.
The soap is moulded and cast in an edition of 100. It is made by the father and daughter business Saboon Alee and is imbued with a scent designed with the spices and ingredients found in Dina Foods’ own baklawa recipe.
Reflecting on hand washing and the everyday tea break made sacred, this work explores ideas of permanence and impermanence. The heavy cast glass sculpture is large, enduring and weighty. In contrast, the soap is small and made of organic, perishable material, which will change shape as it is consumed.
I hope the soap bar imparts a feeling of joy as it is used – and that, perhaps, it can persuade its user to take a moment in their day to reflect on the sacredness of everyday routines.