About us
About us and our soaps
POL-CRAFT SOAPERY is a small soap manufacturer specializing in natural, handcrafted (artisan) soaps using the traditional method of cold saponification. We work together in a group of four partners only. Our company was recently established but our history goes back to the pre-war period.
This old-school method of cold saponification has been known since ancient times and means that we do not use any part-processed components like soap flakes to produce soap. Instead, we stir basic, raw materials to get a soap mass. Then we pour it into the moulds and wait until this mixture congeals. The oils/fats react with aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide forming the soap itself and residual glycerine, a much appreciated ingredient of soap mass. This is an exothermic reaction that gives off some heat.
The coconut oil, shea butter, olive oil, and castor oil are the key ingredients, present in every soap bar.
Whenever desirable and whenever possible, we always strive to compose our soaps partly of base oils extracted from crop plants and wild plants growing in our country. These may be, for instance: black cumin oil, nettle seed oil, carrot sativa seed oil or pumpkin seed oil. Aside from base oils extracted from plants native to Poland (or more commonly: native to our part of Europe), we can also enrich our soaps with more sophisticated components like babassu oil, jojoba oil, laurel oil, rice bran oil or sweet almond oil.
It is well known that cold pressed, unrefined oils which do not undergo any treatment and are not modified with any additives are always most desired. This is not only because they are presumed to be more natural in the eyes of the consumer but mainly due to the fact that they do contain greater amounts & higher proportions of various compounds like unmodified fatty acids, vitamins, enzymes, lecithin and other valuable microelements when compared to fully processed, refined oils of a similar specification.
Expert knowledge and family's tradition
Our eco-consciousness is supported by the knowledge and experience in lab work we have gained as university students and after we graduated from Poznań Institute of Technology (Politechnika Poznańska) as Master of Chemical Technology in 2016 and from Poznań University (UAM) as Master of Chemistry in 2020.
We have co-founded POL-CRAFT SOAPERY because it is not only our professional vocation but it is also a part of our family’s heritage. Our (great) grandfather - Józef Witkowski has been running a general merchant store in the town of Inowrocław during the interwar period from 1920 to 1939.
In early 1930’s Józef Witkowski entered into a private partnership agreement with Jakub Frenkel, a young and very smart chemist of Jewish origin. They set up a small manufactory and have crafted premium soaps for the local market out there. They continued production until the outset of the World War II. Jakub Frenkel did not survive the Holocaust and was exterminated by German Nazi occupiers in 1944 while Józef Witkowski died in 1946, soon after the war was over. As time passed by, everything has vanished and apparently nothing remained up-to-day… Nothing but some old recipes for soap manufacture which have inspired us to remake this family business under our new brand and new label.
